The Uncharted Lake
by Furitaurus
Summary: Sequel to 'The Seed Within the Loss'. Ash and Misty are joined by a pair of Pokemon experts and an unexpected guest for a last confrontation with the Nidhogg and Misty finally understands Pikachu's riddle. Chapter 4 is up and chapter 3 was edited.
1. Chapter 1

_The first sequel to 'The Seed Within the Loss' though the events of this story are only tangentially related to the first story. This chapter has been edited and a portion of chapter 2 was transferred to the end of this chapter for structural and obsessive-compulsive reasons. (see chapter 2). Also a minor change to the setting has been made for continuity and reasons of logic._

Uncharted Waters

Beauty and the Beast

Ash, Misty and Pikachu had been travelling together across Hoenn from the green haven known as Fortree City, where both Ash and Misty had fought Winona, the Fortree Gym Leader. Ash had once again acquired his Feather Badge from her and Misty gave a solid performance in their unofficial match the following day; after they allowed Winona to get her Pokémon to the Pokémon Centre for some needed attention after the match with Ash. In an unexpected twist of events, Misty and Winona had to be satisfied with a draw after their final Pokémon, Skarmory and Milotic managed to execute a rare double K.O. on each other.

Having long left Fortree City behind them, the three friends and their Pokémon were travelling towards Lilycove City, then onto Mossdeep City for Ash and Misty's next battle with Tate and his twin sister Liza. However, Ash had decided to test out one of his famous and often dreaded 'short-cuts'. This short cut turned out be less of a short cut and more a trek across an undisturbed portion of forest. Misty was particularly tense during this misadventure because she knew all too well that where there were trees, there were bugs not far behind. Her fears were initially well founded as they encountered all manner of Pokémon in these woods, both of the bug variety and others. Misty was particularly on edge for Beedrill nests and she made sure to tell Ash that if they encountered one whilst out here she was going to 'punish' him, which was said in as open a manner as possible, thus making Ash a little on edge.

Contrary to what they would have expected, their situation did not get worse the deeper they went into the forest, in fact it steadily improved to the point that after nearly half a mile or so of walking, they didn't see hide nor hair of any Pokémon and the forest itself had become totally serene, not a tweet or buzz to be heard, it was almost eerie.

Shortly after this realisation dawned on them Ash and Misty noticed the trees ahead of them coming to a sudden stop and as they drew closer, their eyes perceived between the trees, the glistening blue surface of what could only be a large body of water.

"Hey Misty, check it out, is that a lake?" pointed out Ash.

"Yeah, it looks like it, lets have a closer look!" suggested Misty, the pair of them picking up their pace.

As they breached the edge of the trees, golden sunlight, luscious grassy banks and a beautiful, circular, turquoise lake, some one hundred and fifty meters across greeted their eyes. It was not a large lake, by any means, but what it lacked in stature it made up for in eloquent perfection. The colour of the lake was particularly striking, the pair having never seen water such a colour before.

"Look at this place, it's amazing!" sighed Misty in rapture. "I take it all back Ash, the... detour... was definitely worth it for this. This is a perfect spot for a rest from all that cross country tramping and have some lunch. Maybe even go for a swim!"

"Hold on a second Ash, you see that sign post there?" Misty pointed to a sign nearby that had the words 'No Swimming in the lake' in bold red letters.

Ash let out an irritated sigh. "Well, we can still have luch here and sunbathe, it doesn't say anything about that."

Misty agreed with him there so Ash proceeded to set up a temporary camp and a spot to cook on the grassy knolls of the lake shore, whilst Misty got out their desired food items. As they had travelled together again one thing that had become apparent, even to the normally oblivious Ash, was that the dynamic between the two friends had changed. The old childish seriousness and awkwardness that had often characterised and indeed punctured their relationship in the past, particularly during moments of anxiety was almost nowhere to be seen, much to their unspoken relief. They were also more willing to show physical affection, particularly after battles against other trainers and the times when they trained with each other; a hug here, a tousle of the hair there. When Ash had defeated Winona, Misty had even let him get away with giving her a peck on the cheek during a victory embrace, which was more than they'd ever done with each other in the past, that was for sure. It didn't feel wrong though to either of them though, which was reassuring.

The changes between them were all part of the extra years they had accumulated under their belts; they had matured mentally as much as they had physically and the simple fact was that they felt more comfortable in each other's presence and of course more comfortable with themselves and who they had grown up to become.

Perhaps their comfort in each other's presence had also improved because of the premise of their travels; no longer was Misty's journey with Ash underlined by the fact that he owed her a bike, she was travelling with him again largely because she wanted to and this would naturally put Ash at ease.

Whatever the cause, their improved dynamic meant they were much more eager and willing to have some fun in their travels and both felt that this change in attitude was rubbing off onto their Pokémon, who had become noticeably more at ease with each other, particularly during mealtimes, when they were usually very protective of their bowls of Pokémon food.

All in all, the good vibes were thoroughly appreciated by all and Ash made a mental note about this change in behaviour in his Pokémon. After all, a better disposition could only translate into improved performance in battle.

After cooking up a pleasant noodle and vegetable stir-fry, the pair decided to do a spot of sun-bathing to let their lunch go down before going for a swim. This required they change into something they wouldn't mind getting wet, which they both had in their possession on this occasion and proceeded to dart behind different trees out of each other's views. After they had both changed they walked out a little slowly, Misty was wearing a dark pink skirtini, which stopped a few inches above her knees, with matching bikini top. Ash had a trusty pair of dark blue surf shorts. What was obvious at this moment was their comfort in each other's presence being tested a little, now they were not fully clothed. Oddly enough it was Misty who broke the ice.

"So Ash, is it still weird to see me looking like a girl?" giving Ash a knowing smile.

It took Ash several seconds to understand Misty's reference, at which point he gave an utterly staggered and slightly impressed look. "You still remember that after all this time?" he said, exasperated, remembering what he had said to Misty the first time he had ever seen her in swimwear; a time at the beach during Ash's first attempt on the Indigo League, just prior to the two of them and Brock organising a 'Bikini Competition' to help out an old man fulfil his dream.

"Girls never forget moments like that Ash, ever," she said wagging her finger. Ash merely shook his head blinking. After a brief pause Ash gave a cheesy looking smile and crossed his arms.

"Well, I'm afraid you're not looking much like a girl these days Misty," he said, with mock disappointment. The comment produced a flash of anger on Misty, who was waiting to see how he would dig himself out of this little hole, which he duly did with all the smoothness and subtlety of a particularly moody Primeape. "Cause where I'm standing, you're looking all woman! Ha ha!"

Misty merely let out a gust of air from her lungs and shook her head. "You're damn right I am, boy," she said with mock aggression, stepping forward and laying out her towel on the grass, with Ash quickly following suit.

"By the way," said Misty, once they were both lying down to catch the mid-day sun. "That was a terrible line."

"I know," said Ash, stoically. They lay there for a few moments saying nothing, it was a spotless day, not a cloud in the sky, and no breeze either.

After an hour of lying on the ground, occasionally turning over to sun the other side of their bodies, the two stirred and looked out upon the tranquil waters for a few moments before either of them spoke.

"Everything is so quiet here," said Ash, breaking the silence. "Feels like there isn't another person for miles around."

"Maybe there isn't," replied Misty. "It feels like there aren't any Pokémon for miles around either, except our own of course."

"Yeah, doesn't that seem a little weird to you? There aren't many places where there aren't any Pokémon around and when we were walking through the forest we stopped seeing Pokémon shortly before we got here. Huh, maybe we should call this place Ghost Lake." suggested Ash.

"Hey, maybe this lake already has a name, get your Pokénav and have a look!" urged Misty.

"Yeah let's see," he said, getting out his Pokénav and determining their location. "Well there's a surprise, this lake isn't shown on the map at all.

"How romantic, since no one's decided to mark it up and name it, it could be our very own Lake! Forget Ghost Lake, we should call it Misty Lake! That's a proper name for a place like this."

"Hey I saw this place first, I get to name it!" defied Ash.

"Nuh-uh," said Misty wagging her finger. "You know how it always works with exploration it's always whoever sets foot on or in newly discovered places that gets to claim the discovery!"

"True, but the sign says we aren't to enter, so I guess we will never get to claim it." retorted Ash.

"And when was the last time you did everything you were told Ash?" Misty asked with a smirk.

"It has been a while hasn't it? I don't see any reason why we can't go in the lake, look around, there's no sign of any settlements, not even a dirt road. Who's to stop us?"

Even as he finished speaking he and Ash both knew what each other was thinking and both had that expression of 'I know what you're thinking' plastered on their faces. They both darted their eyes towards the lake and back at each other, measuring up who would get their first in a dash.

They moved at the same time, hurtling themselves towards the water, the lighter framed Misty getting off the mark quicker than Ash. As they both reached the water's edge Ash jumped with all the power he could muster in his legs into the water, bringing himself marginally ahead of Misty and impacting the water a fraction of a second before she did.

"I did it, I got in here first!" he shouted victoriously.

"Not this time Ash Ketchum, this place is mine!" Misty retorted splashing him with water.

"You wish," came the reply, followed by a wave of water.

Misty turned to their Pokémon on the shore. "Hey everyone come on in the water's great!"

Their Pokémon needed no further prompting and jumped into the water and played around as did Ash and Misty, splashing and dunking each other, having a jolly old time.

After calming down for a moment, Ash turned to Misty.

"I wonder how deep this lake is?"

"Given it's not very wide, I wouldn't have thought particularly deep."

"Well, I'm going to find out," said Ash, swimming out some way further from where they had already drifted out to during their play. He took a deep breath and dived under the surface of the water, swimming down to the bottom. Misty had been right, for he didn't need to dive far. From where he was, some forty meters or more out from the edge of the lake, he found the bottom, around six meters down. He touched the bottom of the lake, it's texture silty with bits of rock amongst it. There were sparse patches of lake weed around here too, but nothing of noticeable interest, not that he could see very far in this coloured water.

Ash wasn't sure if he was hearing right, but he suddenly heard a deep booming noise, like a giant drum... or an explosion heard from under water. Whatever caused it, he most certainly felt it from where he was. He decided to go up to find out what was going on and also to get some air.

Whether he was in too much of a rush to get to the surface or whether the cloudy water obscured his vision was not certain, but had he lingered down there for a moment longer he would have noticed a large muddy and rocky object with four segmented, finger-like attachments move out from under the surface of the lake bottom and slowly follow Ash.

Breaking the surface of the water, Ash looked at Misty who looked a little worried.

"Hey Misty, did something explode up here? I heard this deep echoing noise from under the water."

"I don't know Ash, I heard it too, but there was no explosion and in fact it sounded more like it was coming from the lake itself, because it was deep and booming from up here too."

Suddenly their Pokémon, who had been happily frolicking in the water up to this point, made a mad dash for land as if fleeing and hurled themselves ashore and started screaming and shouting at Misty and Ash, furthering the concern of the two friends.

"Uh, Ash, I'm getting worried here. I think our Pokémon know something about this lake that we don't."

"Yeah, let's get..."

Ash was suddenly cut off and sharply disappeared under the water without so much as a yelp. Misty promptly turned around to find him gone.

"Ash? Ash!" she screamed desperately, before making the snap decision to take a deep breath and dive underwater, the only place Ash could be. Swimming deeper she caught site of Ash, struggling with something on his feet. As she swam closer, she could finally make out to her horror that Ash was being held onto by what she could best equate to being a three fingered, one thumbed hand. Only this hand was grim, covered in silt and weeds, it also looked like it was made from a combination of rock and corroded metal.

Misty tried to help Ash free himself from the grasp, but it was too strong, the palm of the monstrous hand being the same size as Ash himself. Ash suddenly gestured to his mouth and clutched his chest; he hadn't had a chance to take a proper breath when he was grabbed and his panic and struggling had made him desperate for air sooner than he normally would have been. Misty knew he needed freeing and fast, or he was going to drown, but the vice grip of the hand was impossible to break. Thinking quick, Misty knew she was not in desperate need of oxygen, so grabbing a surprised Ash by the face, she placed her lips on his and gave him the kiss of life, the air in her lungs still containing enough oxygen to buy Ash time and her an opportunity to call for help on the surface. Ash took all the air she could give, then let her go to the surface.

Breaking the still water Misty shouted out to her Pokemon.

"Corsola, get over here, now, we need you!"

She didn't hear a response but she did see her brave little Corsola jump into the water and race towards Misty, reaching her in seconds.

"Corsola, something grabbed hold of Ash I need you to use spike cannon on it to help him break free, follow me!" Misty ordered, taking another deep breath and going under.

Ash was not in the same place as he was before, being slowly dragged further to away, to the centre of the lake, Misty realised. She raced after and caught up with him. Once again she gave Ash the kiss of life, only this time he didn't so much let her breath air into him as he did forcefully take the air from her, so desperate for oxygen were his lungs.

Once he had taken what she could give, Misty signalled Corsola to fire on the hand, which she duly did, the spikes hitting their mark. There was a pained roar from within the water and the hand let go, freeing Ash who ploughed his way to the surface with Misty. As they rose, Corsola caught sight of a second hand moving out of the gloom heading for her master and fired again, forcing the hand to withdraw.

Misty and Ash didn't speak, they just swam as fast as their limbs would allow them, they were shortly followed by Corsola, who occasionally stopped and fired her spike cannon into the water at the unseen hands that must have been pursuing them.

Finally reaching the grassy land, Ash and Misty scrambled well away from the water's edge, followed by Corsola who hopped out of the water and also retreated to what she felt was a safe distance.

Before they could say or do anything their thoughts were interrupted by an echoing, trumpeting, inhuman bellow, like the sound of large rusty metal hinges being forced to move, only this noise was greatly amplified from the lake.

Ash and Misty, still breathing heavily, leapt to their feet and took another step backwards, as did their Pokémon, the icy grip of fear chilling them to their cores. They had never heard such a horrific and more threatening din in their lives.

As the noise subsided the still waters of the lake were shattered by the appearance of a relatively large, very turbulent and persistent emission of air, creating a frothing, churning mound close to the centre of the lake.

With their eyes rooted to the disturbance, Ash, Misty and their Pokémon watched as a dark grey, nobly mass broke the surface within the the erupting water and that same terrible noise sounded out, directly from the extrusion, which stopped rising any further. It stayed there for several moments, gently swaying slightly from side to side, not rising any further.

As promptly as it had risen it began to retreat under the water and the bubbles that had preceded its appearance died down as quickly as they had begun. The lake returned to it's calm beauty, the serenity only punctured by a higher pitched wail from the water, the noise sounding like it was coming from far away, it was the noise of a creature that was disappointed it had let it's quarry get away.

For five minutes Ash and Misty did nothing, just stared out at the water, not sure if the monster was bluffing or had genuinely returned to the depths from whence it came. Eventually Ash breathed out slowly, relieved beyond measure and sank to the soft grassy ground onto his back, the trauma of having nearly drowned at the hands of some savage beast getting the better of his strength. He just lay there with his eyes closed, slowly shaking his head.

He opened his eyes to see Misty standing over him with a concerned look on her face.

"Ash, are you OK?" she asked.

Ash made no reply, but instead, to Misty's surprise he lurched up and threw his arms around her, dragging her down to ground level on top of him, in a tight hug, which she affectionately returned.

"With you around to save my life when I need you to, I'll always be OK," he assured her, which put a small smile on her face.

For a short while they just stayed as they were; chins on each others shoulders, saying nothing, just listening and feeling each other breathe, Ash toying with a damp clump of Misty's hair. The warm sun starting to dry off their wet glistening bodies. They had come close, so close to losing each other, were it not for Misty's quick thinking.

In Ash's mind there was no way he was going to be able to make up for that, not unless he had to save Misty's life in the future and he could never wish for her to be in a situation where her life was in danger to begin with. No, this would simply be something he would always have to remember and thank her for.

It was Misty who eventually broke the long silence.

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Think we should get up?" she asked.

"Don't want to," he admitted. "But yeah, I think we've lingered here too long. I feel like that thing is watching us."

They stood up, looking back across the water.

"What in the world was that thing?" asked Ash, quietly.

"I have no idea, if it was a water Pokémon, it was like none I've ever seen before. An undocumented species perhaps?" she pondered.

"Maybe. Do you get the feeling there's a reason this lake isn't showing on my Pokénav? And that thing out there is that reason?"

Misty merely nodded. "I think we should leave. Now."

They packed up their belongings and returned their Pokémon to their balls and were starting to walk away when Ash stopped. He had a thoughtful expression for a moment, then that expression changed to one of determination. It was one Misty had seen before and on seeing it, had a sinking feeling she knew what Ash was going to say next.

"No Ash, don't even think about it!" she ordered.

"Think about what? Don't you want to know what that thing was?" he asked.

Misty looked at him incredulously. "Ash a few minutes ago you said we'd lingered here too long and before that, that thing tried to kill you. There are some things in this world that should simply be left alone and I believe this is one of them."

Ash looked disappointed at Misty's response, but no less determined. "I know it tried to drown me, but I'm here on dry land now and it doesn't seem interested in coming onto land. Come on Misty, we've got a chance to see a Pokémon never seen before, I've certainly never seen anything like it and frankly, I want to see the face of my attacker."

"There's no way I'm letting you back in that lake Ash, I'll break your legs first if that's what it takes to stop you," said Misty, her words quite serious.

"Are you crazy, there's no way I'm getting back in the water, I was going to get Feraligatr to bring it up to the surface again and battle me!" Ash said, making a fist.

"There's no way I'm letting you send Feraligatr down there alone," responded Misty. "I know I can't stop you, so I might as well help you, but I tell you this: if something happens to our Pokémon, there'll be no one to help you from me."

"Alright, Misty," said Ash, confidently grabbing Feraligatr's Pokéball. "Let's do it Feraligatr!" he cried.

"Gyarados, Kingdra, I choose you!" called Misty, unleashing her own powerful Pokémon.

"Whoa," mumbled Ash. "How long have you had a Kingdra?"

"My Seadra evolved whilst I was training with Lorelai. You like?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm impressed. Whatever that thing in the lake is, it has no chance against all three of these guys!" he said with a smile.

"Alright, everyone, there's a creature at the bottom of this lake and we want you to coax it to the surface for battle, we're counting on you, do whatever it takes!" Ash commanded.

"Be careful though,"advised Misty. "That creature is big and it has two very big hands, that could get a strong hold on you, so watch yourselves."

The Pokémon gave their own battle roars and swam out into the lake and dived beneath the green-blue surface.

"That monster isn't going to know what hit it." said Ash assuredly. Misty remained silent.

A few moments went past when suddenly the peace and serenity was shattered by the familiar spine tingling roar from the deep, only this one sounded more aggressive and angry. A few seconds later, Ash and Misty were astonished to see Kingdra, Gyarados and Feraligatr break the surface of the lake and tear their way across the water, each had a desperate and petrified look on their faces. Right behind them the same two hands that had attacked Ash and Misty chased after the fleeing Pokémon.

They reached the end of the lake but didn't even slow down, using their speed and momentum to hurtle themselves a good distance out of the water, close to the surrounding trees. The pursuing hands stopped at the lake's edge and fumbled around the damp shores. They were even more ghastly to look at when out of the water; their colour had turned from the light grey silt colour when they were underwater and had turned as dark as their purpose of finding their lost prey. Ash and Misty could clearly make out patches of metal amongst the rocky, almost coralline skin of the hands and the arms they were attached to.

The hands gave up their search and slowly retreated from the shore, singing back into the murky depths to the sounds of a low rumbling growl from the lake. Ash and Misty rushed to their Pokémon; they were trembling with fear, their pupils fiercely dilated, their gazes, directed out to the centre of the lake, were unwavering. It took several attempts to rouse them out of their trance, at which point their trainers comforted them and returned them to the safety of their Pokéballs.

A forlorn Ash turned to Misty, who was looking at him with an 'I told you so' expression, which Ash did pick up on. "I'm sorry Misty, you were right, we should have just left. I'm done here, let's go and get these three to a Pokémon centre; make sure they're OK."

The disappointment in his face caused Misty to soften her expression. She knew Ash had a strong sense of inquisitiveness and knew he would have really wanted to see the creature they had discovered. This time though, it was not to be.

Picking up their belongings and changing back to their walking clothes amongst the trees, they left the beast behind them, the identity of the lake's fell resident once again remaining a mystery.

Ash and Misty decided to carry on in the direction they had been going. It meant they would cut out a large portion of their journey and they didn't see the point in retracing their steps.

The mood was rather downcast, the entity who refused to show it's face simply would not be coaxed to the surface and instead managed to terrify the living daylights out of three powerful Pokémon, even Gyarados and Misty had always been under the impression that Gyarados' couldn't feel fear.

Ash had been unable to put a face to the creature that had tried to drown him, which was a point of frustration, it was like an itch he couldn't scratch, though there was not much he could do right now; he needed to get Feraligatr to a Pokémon centre to make sure he was OK.

After a short walk from the lake they happened upon what they thought were the tell tale signs of a pathway, weaving it's way through the trees.

The pair decided to follow the path and see where it led them, they certainly had nothing to lose at this point and maybe they would get lucky and find someone who knew where the nearest Pokémon centre was. Even better if they knew what that beast in the lake was.

They must have walked for nearly half an hour when they noticed the trees start to thin out once again, only this time to their relief they started to see timber clad houses through the trees.

Curious as to the name of this village, Ash took out his Pokénav. "We're about to go into the village of Okham. I wonder if there's a Pokémon centre here?"

"Well, even if there isn't one, someone is bound to know what that lake monster is, this pathway has been used recently and it looks like it leads to the lake." said Misty.

Clearing the trees and their dark canopy they emerged into a quiet street and there was not a soul in sight. From where they had come from it looked like they had wandered onto a back street of the town. Heading along the street and deeper into town, the friends happened upon a town square, which was almost equally deserted, only a few people ambling about from one place to another. The area was obviously the business hub of the town, as all the buildings here were shops of various trades.

Spying a café, called 'Angie's' a few houses away, Ash and Misty decided to get a quick drink whilst they made their enquiries. They walked into the establishment, which already contained several clientèle here for a late lunch and found a table for themselves. They were greeted by a cheerful looking woman in her early forties with shoulder length dark brown hair.

"Well, well, new faces about town! Lovely to meet you, I'm Angie, co-proprietor of Angie's café," she said proudly.

"Nice to meet you Angie. I'm Misty and this is my friend Ash, we're Pokémon trainers travelling across Hoenn," said Misty.

"A pleasure. Now, before I get too deep into conversation I'm sure you folks came here for some refreshments, is there anything I can get you?" she asked.

"Uh, sure, I'll have a strawberry milkshake please!" said Misty.

"I'll have a chocolate one, thank you Angie," said Ash. "Oh and I'll have two straws in mine please, I should imagine Pikachu would like to have a sip," he added, motioning to Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" cooed Angie, scratching Pikachu under his chin, to his delight. "Anyway, I'll get my husband right on those shakes," she said leaving the table.

"Weird," said Ash, looking furtively around him. "Everything seems pretty normal for a town that's so close to a lake with a monster living in it," he said in a hushed tone, not wanting to attract too much attention.

"I guess we'll see just how calm they are when we bring it up." replied Misty.

Angie shortly returned after having placed their order and took a moment to sit with them.

"So, you're travelling Hoenn are you? If you're trainers I'm guessing you'll be competing in the Hoenn League later this year?"

That's right. Well, I am at any rate," replied Ash. "Misty's out here with me for other reasons."

"Oh, I see. Well, say no more, say no more. I'm not going to pry on that one," said Angie, giving a knowing smile.

A moment of confusion swept Ash and Misty, then simultaneously twigging what Angie was implying.

"Whoa, it's not what you think, Angie," stammered Misty, now going red in the face, as was Ash, who was looking away from both of them, as embarrassed as he was amused. "I'm here to train for the Gym Leader's Championship."

"Oh I see, you're a gym leader, eh? Impressive stuff, my apologies. I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that," said Angie hastily.

"No matter," reassured Ash. "You're not the first person to make that mistake and I have a feeling you won't be the last," his tone a little awkward.

"Say, Angie, I have a question for you," said Misty, trying to change the conversation. "Ash and I found a lake about half an hour that way," she said, indicating the general direction. "It's not noted in our Pokénav. What can you tell us about it?"

Ash noticed Misty seemed to be deliberately leaving out the monster they tried to fight, so he decided to play along and not mention it either.

The pair of them gauged Angie for a reaction, but Ash didn't notice her even flinch. More surprising was her response.

"Lake you say? I don't know of any lake around these parts, Misty, sorry!" she said calmly.

"Really? Are you sure?" persisted Ash. "Because there's definitely one there, I can assure you."

Misty noticed a couple of other patrons taking peeks over their shoulders in their direction.

"Well, if there is one then I haven't seen it. Running this place doesn't give me much of a chance to get out and about. Sorry I can't be much help."

As she finished speaking they heard a bell go 'ding' in the background, from the kitchen.

"Oops, sorry, someone's meal is ready. No rest for a hostess I'm afraid, back to work. I should imagine your milkshakes will be ready soon too, nice meeting you both!" she said getting up and walking away without giving them a chance to respond.

"Well, she didn't seem to know anything and she sounded genuine," said Ash.

"She knew something," replied Misty.

"How can you tell?" asked Ash, to which Misty rolled her eyes.

"You're still terrible at reading women's body language aren't you?" asked Misty.

"Yup, why?" asked Ash, stoically.

"Well if you weren't so rubbish at that you would have noticed that, despite sounding and acting completely normal, there were two things she couldn't cover- first, the colour briefly drained away from her face when you first mentioned the lake, it came back quite quickly, but it was still a dead give-away. Secondly of course, when you mentioned the lake I noticed a few people around us had suddenly taken an interest in the conversation," she said, crossing her arms and looking rather smug.

"So she was lying," said Ash. "If that's the case, how are we going to get people to talk?"

"You don't," muttered a gruff voice adjacent to them.

Ash and Misty turned to see an old man, who looked to be in his seventies. His thin, grey hair, inverted horseshoe moustache and bushy, dark grey eyebrows gave him a striking look, as did his icy blue eyes.

"No-one here will talk of that place, not in public anyway, it's pretty much forbidden. However, since you have unfortunately found that... area, have your drinks and meet me at my house, it's the bungalow down the third street from the left of this café, you won't miss it," he informed them, then lifting himself out of his chair to leave. "By the way, the name's Julius, no need to introduce yourselves to me, I caught your conversation with Angie. I will see you shortly," he said, picking up a small brown trilby from his table and bidding them farewell for the time being.

Turning back to each other the two sat in silence for a moment before Ash spoke.

"Whatever is in that lake, this town must have a pretty serious history with it."

"Yeah, if it's got the whole town spooked, it must be a serious threat," pondered Misty.

Their milkshakes arrived shortly, which they took the time to enjoy and they were very good milkshakes. Misty's actually had blended strawberries and cream in the mix, whilst Ash could tell his had proper cocoa beans ground into it along with cream. Supping it from the straw, it was like drinking liquid dark chocolate and was sinfully good, having a wonderful bitter-sweet flavour.

After they had eventually polished off their milkshakes, with some assistance from Pikachu, who definitely approved, they bade farewell to a slightly nervous looking Angie, who had noticed Julius talking to them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2 has been edited significantly since it was first posted; the opening three pages were put into the end of chapter 1 as I was not satisfied with the point at which it ended and the huge discrepancy between the sizes of chapters 1 and 2 irritated me (chapter 2 had twice the pages) Apart from that nothing in terms of plot and story content has changed, just technical mistakes corrected and the aforementioned change to the chapter structure._

A Shadow of the Past

Once outside, the two walked with purpose toward Julius' house, which it turned out was the only bungalow on a street of houses with two stories or more; easy to find, as promised.

Walking through an immaculate looking garden, they didn't have a chance to knock on the man's door when he opened it up, greeted them and ushered them inside.

He took them through a short entrance hall and into a pleasant lounge, with exposed oak timbers, juxtaposed against white walls adorned with paintings and ornaments. It was all very homely and it was comforting for the two who were directed to a couple of arm chairs in front of a glass table, which held a piping hot pot of tea and some cups and saucers, which Julius offered to them.

"I know you've just had a drink, Angie's milkshakes are good aren't they?" he said with a knowing smile. "But they can be so rich sometimes that after a short while you start to feel rather thirsty, particularly the chocolate one."

It was only after mentioning it that Ash came to the realisation that, yes, he did indeed feel thirsty. How odd it seemed to him that he had not noticed this feeling before Julius said it.

"So," began Julius, pouring out the delightfully aromatic infusion. "You've been to the lake then. Tell me about it, tell me what brought you there."

They recounted their tale to Julius, whose eyes widened with shock at what happened to Ash. As they finished their story, Julius sank his head, shaking it gently.

"What is in that lake Julius? What was that thing?" asked Misty softly, but with intent in her voice.

Julius let out a sigh, still looking at the floor. A moment of silence passed between them before Julius opened his eyes and looked at them, his was the expression of someone with a great weight on his shoulders.

"We call him the Nidhogg," he said, grimly. "He is an entity unique to this world, there are no others like him. I can't tell you exactly what he is because even after all my years of knowing him and trying to study him I still have no definitive answers, only theories with little proof," he said, downcast. "I believe he is a Pokémon of some kind, probably a very ancient one; I have seen him use Pokémon techniques when fighting and I can tell you now he is a dangerous creature indeed. That you made physical contact with him and have come out alive is a testament to your luck and the wits of those in your company," he motioned to Misty, who flickered a smile.

"Why did he grab me? Because I was invading his territory?" asked Ash.

"No, I'm afraid the reality is much more unsettling than that. The Nidhogg is truly an ancient beast, I'm almost certain he has called the lake 'home' since it was formed however long ago that may be. Over that time I believe he has acquired a... taste for humans."

The shock in Ash and Misty's eyes were evident.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. You really were lucky today Ash," he said.

"It eats humans?" asked Misty rhetorically, unable to believe her own words. "Pokémon don't eat humans!"

"Not true, Misty. You remember that Aerodactyle we disturbed underground way back? That thing tried to eat me, remember?" Ash reminded her.

"Well, I don't think it eats humans exclusively, it'll eat whatever it can get it's hands on. It's terrible hands..." Julius trailed off. "Anything that gets too close to the lake or outright swims in it."

"How could you possibly know that he eats hum..." Ash began when a horrific realisation dawned on him. "You've seen him do it haven't you? You've seen him actually eat someone haven't you?" he asked. Julius' response was to turn away from him.

"My parents and I, along with a few dozen other families settled in this place some 67 years ago, I was 9 at the time. Everything seemed perfect at the time, we had everything we needed and were looking forward to starting a new life away from Lilycove City, which at the time was expanding faster than we were comfortable with."

"Shortly after we had established ourselves proper, we discovered the lake. It seemed great, effortlessly beautiful and all to ourselves," he shook his head slightly. "Little did we know what those tranquil waters concealed. Shortly after we discovered the lake, people started disappearing. Only in small numbers, usually one, maybe two at a time in a week. This went on for nearly a month when some bright spark realised that all the people who had disappeared had said they were going to the lake to relax and whatnot."

"The townspeople gathered to the lake to do a proper search of the area and in a day of searching they found nothing. People even ventured into the water to investigate, fearing those lost had drowned."

Ash and Misty looked puzzled. "Why didn't he go for the townspeople who were in the water?" asked Misty.

"That, I think, is a sign of the Nidhogg's intelligence. I believe it decided to keep it's presence unknown to the townspeople. That way they would be more likely to return if they didn't know there was a predator lurking in the water. It was right too," he said, finally looking at them.

"Late one afternoon as dusk was setting in, myself and a couple of mates, Vinnie and Tony, were playing a game of dare. Vinnie dared Tony and myself to go to the lake and swim in it, despite the bad reputation that place now had in town. Tony agreed to do it, but I didn't, so to show me I was being a 'chicken', Vinnie decided to take himself up on his own dare," he paused for a moment to take a sip of tea.

"So we sneaked off to the lake. When we got there everything seemed normal enough, in fact it was a glorious dusk, the sunset was orange as a Charizard's fire, set magnificently against the reflection of the water. Vinnie and Tony were the confident ones of our trio and they got down to their underwear and went in for a swim. I myself watched from the edge of the trees and for nearly five minutes everything seemed normal, Vinnie and Tony were enjoying themselves, I was almost tempted to go in myself. It was then that I noticed something briefly break the surface of the water, not ten metres from the lads, but it quickly disappeared and the two boys hadn't noticed. I called out to them telling them something was there, but it was too late."

"I heard Vinnie shout 'Whoa, something just touched my leg!' and he was suddenly pulled under. Tony was shouting and looking all around him, poor boy, he should have swam as fast as he could. I was shouting at him to get out when I saw what you saw; those churning waters near the centre of the lake and then I heard that noise. That roar, whatever it was, sounding out from the churning mass. Tony was rooted with fear, as was I, when the Nidhogg made it's appearance, it's head rising up from the frothy waters," by this point Julius was staring off into the distance like he was far removed from the comfort of his home. Even after all the time that had passed since these events his mind was still recalling his darkest hour with painful clarity. Ash and Misty could only sit, watch and listen, utterly mesmerised with his story.

"I'll never forget that evil visage, the muddy skin, the long serpentine neck, which was actually cuboid in shape, if a little lumpy and distorted from the ravages of time. The cruel gaping maw, the size of a doorway with two huge teeth spread out on each jaw, shaped like giant incisors. It also had quite a pronounced under bite. The shape of it's head was also cuboid, but like the rest of it, it was lumpy and slightly misshapen, it was also covered in water weeds, which only made it look even more otherworldly, like something that was a part of the lake bottom had come to life."

"Then there were it's eyes. They were on the sides of it's head and there was just... nothing in them. Just cold, empty pits, lifeless black holes, yet I could tell it could see out of them because at one point it angled itself so it's left eye was pointing directly at me. I think it was then that it realised it had made a mistake because it opened it's mouth and roared, I think it was frustrated. It had never seen me in the trees until that moment and he knew I was too far away for it to reach out and stop me getting away and telling everyone."

"So he turned his attention to Tony, who had almost made it to shore. He was just about to set foot on dry land when he was grabbed by one of the creature's hands and dragged, clawing and screaming back to his doom. The Nidhogg then raised it's other submerged hand and I saw to my despair it was still holding Vinnie, though his body was completely lifeless, having drowned in the time he was underwater. Considering what happened next, I consider his drowning a blessing in disguise. For him at least. The creature dropped Vinnie into it's mouth and swallowed him whole," a tear fell down the face of the old man, the pain of the six and a half decade memory burning back into him. He took a sip of tea to compose himself, before carrying on.

"Tony was almost catatonic with unbridled terror at this point, it was like he was going mad; his screams were drowning out even his captor. Of course the Nidhogg was not phased by any of it, but it must have been getting disinterested because it simply slunk back into the dark waters, casting one last look at me before disappearing and taking Tony with it in it's hand. The last thing I heard from him was his calling me, desperate for help and after that, silence. Just silence."

The old man's eyes were bloodshot and tearful, the savage memory deeply cutting into his heart and soul. Ash and Misty wondered how he had managed to cope with this memory after all these years.

"So what happened after that?" asked Misty, gently.

"I ran. Ran so fast I got back to the village in less than 10 minutes. I was shouting at the top of my voice, hysterical really. People came out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about and I was approached by a number of them, including my father, who demanded I explain what happened, which I did, much to the abhorrence of the villagers. As for Vinnie and Tony's parents they were beside themselves."

"Eventually after some deliberation the villagers decided to get some torches, armed themselves with whatever they could find and anyone who had a Pokémon with them brought them too, particularly water Pokémon. Their plan was to have their Pokémon drive the creature out of the lake and then kill it, whatever it was. Some thought it might be some sort of Gyarados that had evolved arms. It wasn't of course, I knew that."

"My mother insisted I stay in the village, the villagers didn't need me, I was going to be of no use to them, I was in no state to be of any help. The villagers were only gone for an hour and a half and when they returned, they looked completely demoralised," he said, shaking his head.

"They had seen the monster, but neither they nor their Pokémon could get it out of the lake. In fact they hadn't even been able to attempt to drive it out. They said it had used some sort of unique psychic attack never seen before that induced an irresistible fear into all that saw it. I have seen the attack myself a few times over the years, I call it 'Insanity' because those affected feel like they have lost their minds to fear. Humans, Pokémon, it works on all of them and it used Insanity on that whole posse. The villagers lost a couple of Pokémon to the Nidhogg that night too," he mourned.

"The next day there was a town meeting where it was decided no one was to ever go to the lake again. For the safety of any travellers that came this way, no one was to mention it either and if they were only passing through they were to be given directions away from the lake. Our own mayor even had the foresight to contact the Cartographer's Guild; they're the ones that chart the land and inscribe it onto maps and national databases and so on. He ensured that they had the lake stricken from all records and had it look like there was nothing there but forest- no reason for anyone to take an interest you see?"

"For the most part it worked, you two are the first travellers to have mentioned the lake in more than two decades!" he said.

"That's a pretty good track record, but how do you know that people haven't happened upon the lake as we have and not had the chance to escape, you know?" probed Ash.

"Because I go to the lake two times a day, late morning and late afternoon and I have done so for the last fifty years or so. I go round the lake and check that there are no belongings with no owners lying on the lake side. In all that time I have seen nothing of the sort, not even a trace of human presence there and the Nidhogg has no need to remove people's possessions from the shore any more, he knows his cover is gone. You need not worry about people discovering the lake, the system has worked well," he said adamantly.

"OK," said Ash. "I believe you. But what do you want from Misty and I? You didn't tell us all this just to let us go and do nothing to help you or the village, did you?"

"Well, maybe I did, maybe I'm just an old man who likes to feel a little younger than he is by talking to youngsters like yourselves!" retorted Julius, though Ash and Misty could tell he was not genuinely offended.

"Fine," he conceded. "There is something for which I have need of you. It's quite simple really; I have been waiting for a trainer of talent, power and experience to wander to our village and now here I have two. I want you to capture the Nidhogg and take it away from here and put it somewhere far away from this village. It's high time that the shadow it has cast over this town be removed. It has been a goal of mine for some time now and I had always wanted to rid this place of it before I was gone, this village deserves to be relieved of the burden. If it means keeping it in a Pokéball for all eternity then so be it."

"Why do you think we can do that?" asked Misty. "We tried to do exactly the same as the villagers did, we tried to get it to the surface and it just used it's Insanity on Gyarados, Kingdra and Feraligatr. Besides, for all the things it's done, do you think we should remove it? I mean, the lake has been it's home for a long time, removing it is only going to make it even more aggressive and dangerous."

"I have tried to look at it that way, particularly in these, my Autumn years. Yet despite the success of keeping it a secret I cannot ignore the threat it poses and the fear it has wrought on the last three generations in this village simply by being there. This village deserves something to be cheerful about. Who knows? Maybe if you captured it you could tame it or study it and fully understand what it is," he suggested.

"Professor Oak would love to study this Pokémon, that's for sure. I don't think he's encountered anything like this, much less studied it," pondered Ash.

"Sounds like you know people in the right places," said Julius. "So will you at least try to capture it?"

"Well, I'd love to give it a go if I could but wouldn't it just use it's psychic attack on me and my Pokémon?" pointed out Ash.

"Ah, good point," agreed Julius. "I have not been idle since I first met the Nidhogg. I have been studying it's attack carefully over the years and I have developed a herbal drug that when consumed inhibits the sensation of fear. I only perfected it with the help of some willing doctors and test subjects within the last two years. Give this drug to your Pokémon and they will be completely immune to Insanity, leaving them free to engage it at your command." he said triumphantly.

"What do you think Misty? Think we can do it? If we give it to Professor Oak at least we know it'll be in good hands."

There was some conflict on Misty's face, she still wasn't sure whether they had the right to remove the Nidhogg from it's home. Ash caught on to this; it was the same internal conflict every Pokémon trainer faced when it came to capturing Pokémon. Unique and legendary Pokémon like this one were not like other Pokémon; because there were no others in the wild to take their place if a trainer were to capture them there would be none to take their place. As such, most trainers refrained from doing so, unless they had no choice.

"You're going to try for it aren't you Ash?" she asked.

"I feel like I must," he shrugged. "That thing is dangerous for one thing and for two, how long do you think it'll be before a group like Team Rocket find out about it's existence and try to capture it? What will they do to it when they find they can't take it so easily? They'll take it by excessive force. Don't forget that thing can't run away like other Pokémon. Or at least it doesn't seem like it can run."

Misty knew he was right and even if he wasn't, she knew she wasn't going to change his mind. She also knew she wasn't going to let him take on the Nidhogg alone; a Pokémon that had it's own bespoke attack must be immensely powerful indeed, maybe more powerful than Ash could handle on his own.

"Well, I know Professor Oak will know how to take care of it and I'm not letting you do this alone. Not after what Julius has just told us and not after what happened last time."

"Trust me, this will work out fine in the end," he assured her, putting his hand on her knee, to which she gave a comforted half smile; If there was one thing she knew it was that Ash was always true to his word.

"Excellent," said Julius. "We shall go at sunset when the light has dimmed a little; The Nidhogg is a nocturnal creature and is not fond of bright light, so he never brings his eyes above water level during the day. At sunset though, he starts to become active, you're more likely to get him to fight you at that time."

So wait they did at Julius' house. He took a look at Ash and Misty's Pokémon, the ones that had been hit with Insanity, to make sure they had recovered, which they had. They had a pleasant early dinner, which Julius prepared for them; a chicken and vegetable pasta bake, which went down a treat, invigorating the two for the upcoming confrontation.

After taking a moment to let their dinner go down along with the waning sun, the bottom of which was just touching the horizon, the three of them set off for the lake, with Julius leading the way. They were not far from the lake when Julius stopped and reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny black and yellow Pokéball.

Ash and Misty's eyes widened in surprise.

"An ultra ball?" Ash asked.

"Indeed it is, a rare, very well designed type of Pokéball. Very expensive as well, prohibitively so for most trainers. I saved up enough money to buy it a couple of years ago for this very task- I suspect that even if you severely weaken the Nidhogg, it is so powerful that even a regular Pokéball will be insufficient. This though should prove adequate, the catch rates on these are astounding," he said, handing it to Ash. "Don't get over confident though, I think you will need to exhaust the creature totally and utterly to guarantee capture. You'd also better choose some hard hitting Pokémon, who knows how much punishment the Nidhogg can take?"

"Well, we have that one covered , that's for sure," said Ash, thumbing his Pokéballs.

"Good, when we get to the edge of the woods get them out and I will administer the fear blocker drug on you as well as your Pokémon. There's no use stopping your Pokémon from feeling fear if you're too afraid to give commands!"

Upon reaching the lake, which was still calm and undisturbed, Ash and Misty elected to bring out two Pokémon each. Normally they would have felt four on one would be unfair, were it not for the fact that the Nidhogg's arms and hands were practically two separate entities themselves.

Ash brought out Feraligatr and Sceptile, whilst Misty once again chose Gyarados and Kingdra.

After Julius administered the drug to everyone, Ash and Misty leapt into action.

"Feraligatr, go with Gyarados and Kingdra and bring the Nidhogg up to the surface, if he tries to grab any of you, do whatever it takes to help each other out, understood?" asked Ash.

"Feraligatr!" came the enthusiastic response and all three Pokémon gave ferocious battle cries before diving into the water in search of their mark.

"Sceptile, when the others bring the Nidhogg to the surface, you help them out by providing support fire with your bullet seed and razor leaf attacks, but whilst you're doing that I want you to charge up your solar beam. With the sun going down I know it'll take longer for you to fully charge yourself, but not to worry, I'll only get you to use it when I feel the time is absolutely right, OK?"

"Sceptile!" said a determined Sceptile. Ash took a glance at Sceptile's tail and noticed tiny flickers of light moving into his tail, the charge had already begun. Ash was right though, based on the number of the little flashes of light and the speed they moved into his tail, Sceptile was gaining only a trickle charge compared to normal. On the plus side, because the charge was so insubstantial it meant Sceptile didn't need to concentrate on absorbing light, freeing him up to make other attacks.

The evening serenity was suddenly shattered by a colossal bellow from the lake and the three water Pokémon broke the surface of the water and steadily retreated without turning their backs to the source of the noise, ready for their master's next commands. Once again, the same torrent of air erupted from the centre of the lake quickly followed by the lumpy dome of the Nidhogg's head. This time though it did not stop rising and at last Ash and Misty were able to witness the terrible visage of their attacker and in that moment they were glad that Julius had given them his fear blocker because they knew if they hadn't taken it they would have been too chilled to the core to give orders.

It was exactly as Julius had described, only now seeing it in person it was all the more intimidating... and huge. It's thick, lumpy, cuboid head, savage jaws and neck that was as wide as a Snorlax dwarfed Gyarados, who was a sizeable Pokémon himself. It kept rising and rising, until it was so tall that if it wanted to it could just about overreach the shoreline of the lake, like it's arms could, which also rose out of the water, it's hands flexing in anticipation.

For a moment Ash, Misty, their Pokémon and the Nidhogg stared at each other. Ash and Misty were considering tactics in their heads, the Nidhogg was staring at them, almost resentful that these insignificant whelps had the gall to disturb him. The two trainers noticed that having eyes on opposite sides of it's head meant it had a full three hundred and sixty degree view of the battle field, meaning it had no blind spot, a great advantage when fighting multiple opponents. What spooked them was the there were no pupils within it's sockets, no irises or cornea either. There was just cold, empty voids, devoid of emotion or soul, like it was dead.

"Look at it," whispered Misty. "It feels ancient doesn't it? It looks more like a part of the earth came to life than a Pokémon."

"Whatever it is, we're going to catch it," he said, turning to the Nidhogg. "You hear that Nidhogg? I hope you're ready for a battle because you're about to be in one!"

The beast seemed to understand the challenge and roared in defiance, it was a battle cry that shook their bones. The Nidhogg wasted no time and turned to Feraligatr and fired a dense beam of sickly green energy from it's mouth.

"Dodge it Feraligatr!" Ash commanded before turning to Julius. "Get back behind the trees Julius, this is going to get rough!" Julius took shelter behind a large tree trunk and watched the action intently.

Feraligatr had dodged the dragon breath by micrometers and had to keep running because the Nidhogg did not relent it's attack and turned to sweep the powerful blast into Feraligatr.

"Kingdra, use your own dragon breath!" shouted Misty, her own Pokémon unleashing it's own attack. Before the bolt could impact one of the Nidhogg's hands darted in front of the dragon breath and a high pressure blast of water hurtled out of the palm, intercepting the attack, stopping it in it's tracks, protecting the Nidhogg's head.

"Damn! Ash, this thing can launch more than one attack at the same time!" she called out to Ash.

Before Ash could respond, the second hand came into play and fired a beam of blue energy at Kingdra, who was still firing at the first hand, unable to stop it. Misty recognised it as Ice beam and called out to Gyarados.

"Gyarados use your flame-thrower attack on that ice beam!"

Gyarados did as bidden and the two attacks collided, creating gouts of steam and hot water from the melted ice.

"Sceptile, use bullet seed now that both hands are busy!" commanded Ash.

Suddenly the air was filled with hundreds of yellow egg shaped seeds, fired at incredible speed from Sceptile's mouth. The seeds impacted, on the distracted monster's neck, which got it's attention. However he seemed to think the attack was merely a surface nuisance, not a genuine problem and he responded by sweeping his dragon breath into Sceptile, who was still using bullet seed. The dragon's breath overpowered the bullet seed and blew Sceptile backwards at a tree. It was not enough to beat the hardy Sceptile though, who had plenty of fight left in him and turned himself in mid air so he hit the tree feet first cushioning his impact.

Seeing his attack fail to take down Sceptile the Nidhogg reacted immediately and fired a savage blast of searing orange energy at Sceptile, who was too agile to hit, luckily and evaded the hyper beam. The tree where Sceptile had been standing and the one behind it were cut clean in half by the searing energy.

"Sceptile, it'll need a little time to recharge after that hyper beam, fire your razor leaf to the left and right of it's neck to box it in, Feraligatr, hit it with hydro pump!" ordered Ash.

It was a clever idea, restricting the Nidhogg's ability to dodge by using razor leaf to trap it. But it was to no avail; Feraligatr fired his hydro pump and to Ash's astonishment, the Nidhogg simply fired it's hyper beam again at Feraligatr, intercepting the attack.

"It didn't even need a rest! It barely missed a beat!" said Ash to himself. "Watch out Misty, this thing has almost no refractory period after using hyper beam!"

"OK!" she called back.

It was now evident the way the battle would be fought had been decided; Misty fighting the two hands, which did indeed feel like fighting two separate entities and Ash trying to overcome the head of the monster. It was also evident that one of them would need to seriously think outside the box to outwit this overpowered Pokémon.

The two trainers fought fiercely, Misty was keeping her side of the battle at a stalemate. It was impossible to find an opening to take advantage of. Every attack she used was intercepted by one of the hand's own attacks. She also found out first hand that they too had no down time after using hyper beam, it was like they had an endless supply of energy to draw from that instantly topped them up after each time they used it.

Having one extra Pokémon in his fight it was clear that Ash was going to have to take the initiative, but he couldn't think for the life of him how he was going to do that. Every shot, every beam, every strike he attempted, the Nidhogg simply used an attack of it's own to intercept or dodged it outright. The speed that this thing was thinking at must have been incredible, it was juggling four different Pokémon in four different locations at once! Not a single attack save for that first bullet seed from Sceptile had hit it's mark. Worse still, it was showing no signs of tiring out, Ash and Misty knew their Pokémon were still going strong, but they knew the limitations of their Pokémon and they began to wonder whether it would be they who gave out before the Nidhogg.

Ash had noticed that the creature's body had still not surfaced, remaining hidden underwater and he realised that it was not moving from the centre of the lake, no matter what they did to it. It was restricting the neck's movement a little bit, but not enough. He also realised that by keeping it's body motionless and out of the fight, the Nidhogg was conserving it's energy. This was not a battle that could be won by attrition, he and Misty had to hit it hard, really hard and soon.

Feraligatr dodged yet another hyper beam and Ash ordered him to send out a hydro pump, which was countered with an ice beam, creating a huge block of ice, which crashed into the water.

"Think Ash, think!" he growled. He didn't have much time to think as he had to order Feraligatr to evade another ice beam. He stared aimlessly at the floating block of ice and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"Ice," he hissed. "Freeze the lake completely to stop it from moving! Misty I have an idea!" he shouted triumphantly.

"Well whatever you're going to do, do it soon!" responded Misty.

"Sceptile, take over from Gyarados in dealing with that hand, Feraligatr, keep that head busy for now! Misty, use Gyarados' ice beam on the lake itself, freeze that thing and it's arms into place!"

Sceptile dashed to where Gyarados was fighting and used razor leaf on the arm, which fired dragon breath as it's response. Now free to do something, Misty ordered Gyarados to use Ice Beam on the lake.

The powerful Pokémon unleashed an intense bolt of subzero energy, which he focused onto the lake, close to the arms of the animal, the water quickly freezing them into place. The persistent blast continued to quickly spread the ice in all directions, reaching and surrounding the neck of the surprised Nidhogg and spreading further. Gyarados did not stop until almost the entire lake was frozen over. The Nidhogg was stranded, it's arms held into place at awkward angles, but it still attacked nonetheless.

Smiling, Ash watched as Sceptile's tail flashed intensely and glowed, signalling that he had finally finished charging up.

"Misty get ready! When I say, get Gyarados and Kingdra to fire their most powerful attacks at the point where the Nidhogg's neck emerges from the ice, he won't be able to dodge them!"

The Nidhogg gave a roar of defiance.

"Sceptile, use solar beam!"

Sceptile leapt into the air, to find a better angle and to allow Gyarados to resume fighting the hand. An intense ball of white light, bigger than Ash had ever seen him produce, formed in front of Sceptile's head. His tail now glowed so brightly he lit up the entire lake, stopping the trainers from looking at him and even distracting the Nidhogg, who did not like the oppressive light. With a sound like a laser bolt, a mighty solar beam shot out from the ball and struck home, the Nidhogg roaring in pain. The hands flinched and took a dragon breath and a flame-thrower dead on.

"Do it now Misty! Feraligatr, use hyper Beam!"

"Gyarados, Kingdra, use hyper beam as well!"

The three hellish beams of energy impacted like a train, one of them hitting the neck and two of them hitting the Nidhogg square in the head, who roared in obvious agony. Without warning it's hands, which were still active, each fired a hyper beam at Sceptile, who was too drained from using solar beam and too surprised to evade the beams, taking them both at the same time, hurtling him into a tree behind him and he slumped to the ground, completely knocked out.

"Sceptile!" cried out Ash. "Return Sceptile!" he commanded, returning Sceptile back to his Pokéball. "Excellent work Sceptile, you did exactly what I needed you to do."

The battle raged on and the more attacks the two trainers managed to land the more they took their toll on the Nidhogg, it's hand began to attack less often and the attacks they did use had become easier to evade, it's head was also starting to droop.

"Let's finish this Misty! Feraligatr, hydro pump!" shouted Ash.

"Gyarados, ice beam! Kingdra, dragon rage!" said Misty.

Hydro pump struck first, hitting the Nidhogg in the face. Something remarkable happened with dragon rage and ice beam. The whirlwind summoned by Kingdra and the ice beam from Gyarados combined into a dazzling and frighteningly powerful tornado of ice, which engulfed the Nidhogg and his hands. The noise of ice blocks walloping the Nidhogg as they spun in the twister could be heard; huge thumps followed by pained roars.

As the attack subsided the Nidhogg gave a wail of defiance before collapsing onto the ice. The hands went limp and only the head showed signs of consciousness. Ash walked up to Misty, who was closest to the beaten and battered creature. He was breathing heavily and gave a half hearted, almost sad moan, the destruction they had wrought in such a short space of time had completely devastated him.

"Time for you to be captured," muttered Ash, holding the ultra ball, then tossing it at the Pokémon.

The ball bounced off the lumpy skull of the monster, opened up and fired it's collecting laser at the Nidhogg. Nothing happened.

"It didn't even attempt to gather it!" said an astonished Misty.

Ash frowned and gritted his teeth. "This thing still has just enough fight left in him. Alright then, you won't have any more after this. Feraligatr, giga impact!"

"I think it looks like it can't take it anymore," pointed out Misty, with concern in her voice.

"If that's the case then the ultra ball should have captured it. Do it Feraligatr."

Feraligatr leapt into the air above the Nidhogg, his body glowing yellow and orange. A purple sphere of energy grew around him and with gravity on his side he hurtled into the defenceless Nidhogg like a meteorite.

The noise from the impact was deafening and such was the strength of the impact that the ice underneath was shattered, creating a spider web pattern of fragmentation. In any situation other than this, a casual observer would have found the sight quite beautiful, like a work of art.

The damage had been done, Feraligatr walked away from the Nidhogg, grasping the ultra ball. The Nidhogg was still and silent, no one was sure if it was conscious or not, but either way it was truly beaten and broken.

In the stillness of the lake, they heard it breathing, wheezing, struggling. It gave a muted moan that made it sound almost like it was begging for no more. Julius, who had stayed in amongst the trees until this point, watched and for the first time, felt a pang of regret for sending these two against it and walked slowly out towards the trainers. He may have wanted to get rid of the Nidhogg, but he was at heart a good man and he took no pleasure in inflicting harm on anything, even this, after all it had done to him in the past.

Seeing this once mighty entity sprawled like this though made his old mind start to think long and hard. He was finding it difficult to look at the creature as it was, knowing he was responsible for it's condition.

Ash, meanwhile, took the ultra ball from Feraligatr and threw it at the Nidhogg, only for it to do exactly the same thing as before. Ash's mouth dropped, it simply wasn't registering the Nidhogg even being there.

"It doesn't make sense," he said, completely stumped. "I don't understand."

"You're not going to attack it again are you?" asked Misty, but what she really meant was 'don't attack it again'. Ash did not immediately reply, he just stared at it.

The Nidhogg, seeming to understand what was going on gave a small wail that sounded so mournful, like it was almost sorry for the Pokéball not taking it.

After a moment of silence and staring at the creature, Ash shook his head.

"I can't do it Misty, it's no threat to us. It doesn't have the strength left in it to resist the ultra ball, there's something else about this creature that's stopping us from capturing it. Maybe it's not entirely a Pokémon. Who knows?" he sighed and looked at the floor, like he was disappointed with something. "I know one thing though. We shouldn't have attacked it, and I definitely shouldn't have used giga impact on it like that."

Ash stepped onto the slippery ice and tentatively worked his way towards the stricken Nidhogg, stopping where he knew it couldn't suddenly bite down on him. The Nidhogg slowly turned it's head so one of it's eyes was trained on him. Ash did not feel threatened though, instead he felt the Nidhogg was regarding him with curiosity.

"I don't know if you can understand me Nidhogg, I don't even know if that is your real name but if you do understand me then... I'm sorry for doing this to you, I should have left you alone and unharmed."

"We're both sorry," corrected Misty, who had followed Ash.

"Yeah, we both are. We're not going to attack you any further. Once we're off this ice, we'll melt it and free you up. Then, well, you probably won't see us again, which I imagine you'll be pleased to hear."

The Nidhogg responded by drumming it's chin against the ice a few times, seeming to understand Ash's words, but made no attempt on their retreating forms.

Once on the grass, Ash took out a Pokéball and released Charizard who let out his customary greeting roar.

"Charizard I need you to help melt this ice, use flame-thrower, but be careful not to hit that," Ash gestured to the Nidhogg, which was wearily raising it's head and swaying from side to side, still groggy from the punishment. The hands were also flexing gently.

"You too Gyarados," said Misty, turning to her own Pokémon.

Taking care not to hit the Nidhogg, Gyarados and Charizard used their flame throwers to melt much of the ice, though as they progressed they found it harder and harder to have an effect as the melt water simply got in the way. The Nidhogg assisted them with the problem; it's arms were not quite so restricted as they had had been, and they began to hammer at the submerged ice, bringing huge chunks floating to the surface, making them vulnerable to the flame-throwers. It was a pleasing display of co-operation between the Pokémon and Ash and Misty hoped this meant there would be no hard feelings between them and the Nidhogg.

By now the sun had completely disappeared and a bright crescent moon had risen, casting the faintest of ethereal glows across the lake, which combined beautifully with the orange flames from Charizard and Gyarados and as the last of the ice was melted away, Ash and Misty returned their tired Pokémon to their spherical retreats and gave a farewell call to the Nidhogg, who gave a high pitched moan, like a haunting whale song and returned to the muddy depths to recuperate.

The three trudged back to Okham in silence. All were feeling a sting of shame for what they had done; Misty, for going against her better judgement and the unspoken policy between trainers regarding one-of-a kind Pokémon. Julius for giving them the means to brutalise the Nidhogg and Ash in particular was beating himself up in his mind for not only engaging the Nidhogg but for using giga impact when it wasn't necessary. Weakening a Pokémon to capture it was standard procedure with any trainer, but most knew when enough was enough, especially someone like Ash. He was troubled why he had allowed his years of experience in being a trainer to be overridden by frustration. It was a sour feeling all over for them, made only worse by the fact that they were returning to the village empty handed, it was like pouring lemon juice into the wound. Worse still, they were no closer to understanding what the Nidhogg really was. Was it even a Pokémon at all? Once again, the lake and it's occupant were refusing to give up all their secrets.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A Riddle From Pikachu

The walk home seemed to take forever but when they finally reached Julius' house, he took Ash's Pokéball containing Sceptile, promising to heal him up with his collection of herbal medicines. It wasn't a perfect solution after receiving two hyper beams at once, he should have gone to a Pokémon centre, but Okham had none.

Setting themselves down on one of the sofas in the lounge, Ash and Misty both breathed sighs of relief and disappointment. Apart from allowing Julius to take their Pokémon they had said nothing since leaving the lake, but now was the time for talk. Misty turned her head over to Ash and for a moment she studied him. He wasn't looking at her, just staring off into space with Pikachu in his lap. His expression was hard, mixed with concern. She'd seen it before; every time he felt he had let himself and others down. She smiled to herself; she loved how easy it was for her to read him sometimes. Right now though was not a moment for amused thoughts.

"Hey," she said gently, rubbing her hand on his shoulder, catching his attention. "You alright? You look ever so stern."

"Angry at myself," he admitted. "You know how I think, I can't stand cruelty to Pokémon. Or cruelty to anything for that matter. But... that giga impact was one step too far; Feraligatr's most powerful physical attack against an opponent who was already defenceless and beaten, what was I thinking?" he muttered, backhanding himself on the knee.

"Hey, hey," cooed Misty, moving over to Ash and throwing an arm over his shoulders in consolation. "We all make mistakes that sting us more than others, today was just going to be one of those days. Besides, whichever way you look at it, the Nidhogg is extremely dangerous and neither your nor I could have afforded to take chances with it."

"Maybe, but we've been trainers for years Misty, I should have known better that to do that. You did, you warned me against it, but I went ahead anyway," he shook his head.

"Oh, Ash, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, that could just as easily have been me choosing to attack it when it was down," she kissed him affectionately on the side of the head. "Nothing has changed since before we fought that thing, the Nidhogg is going to be fine and you're still one of the most caring and principled guys I know. Don't let this eat at you... for too long anyway."

"Thanks Misty," he mumbled taking a hold of the hand that was around his shoulders as Julius walked in.

"Indeed I think you shouldn't let this incident bother you too much Ash. If your judgement is as strong as you say it normally is then I fear I may have played a part in it's impairment back at the lake. Not having a sense of fear is a double edged sword, it can improve confidence, induce a sense of bravery and fortitude, however it also removes the fear of the consequences of our actions. In this case, because you were still under the influence of the drug, you did not fear the consequences of going too far against the Nidhogg and the damage you may do or have done to it. For my part in this I am sorry that you compromised your principals. You need not blame yourself for what you did. It is clear this incident has shown us that the use of this drug should not be used for anything other than protection from the insanity attack and certainly not as a battle aid."

"You mean I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't taken it?" asked Ash, hopefully.

"It's certainly a possibility Ash, and given how Misty seems to think you would never do anything to hurt a Pokémon the signs are certainly pointing to that. I myself hadn't anticipated those kind of effects until just now."

Ash breathed a small sigh of relief. It didn't change the fact that he had hurt the Nidhogg, but it was at least some small comfort knowing that there were other factors beyond his control that made him make that earlier choice; that he was still the same devoted trainer he always had been. He gave a small smile. Misty knew he'd be OK after a bit of time reflecting on events and a good night's sleep.

"I shall go and make us some tea," said Julius, walking to his kitchen.

The two friends sat in silence for a few minutes, Ash still holding Misty's hand, gliding his thumb along the knuckles.

"Feeling a bit better with yourself now?" she asked.

"Yeah, a little, thanks."

Misty just smiled.

"We're not really any closer to knowing or even understanding what that thing is are we though?" he said thoughtfully.

"Not really. We can't exactly see much more of it while its body is submerged in that lake can we? It's a pity we can't just move the water some place else whilst we look at it. Not that I think it will be particularly happy if we did that," she mused.

Ash slowly looked up from the floor, the cogs in his mind starting to turn. "Move the water..." he whispered to no one in particular, then gave a mischievous half smile. "Misty, you're a genius. I know how we can move the water."

"Uh, Ash, slow down there a second, I know you've already concocted a plan, but seriously, the Nidhogg will not be happy if we remove it's lake," she warned him.

"We're not going to remove it's lake. Well, not in the way you may be thinking, hear me out on this. All we need are some powerful psychic Pokémon, quite a few of them. We get them to use their telekinesis to literally raise the water out of the lake, exposing the Nidhogg and it's body, maybe then we'll get a better idea of what it is," he explained.

Misty looked at him sceptically.

"Seriously Misty, this could work. I have a Gardevoir in my team at the moment, I know you have a Slowking, so that's two psychic Pokémon already."

"So where are we going to get more from?"

"Well, I've been meaning to contact Professor Oak about this anyway, I'm sure he would love to come and see this thing for himself. It probably won't take much persuading to get him to come here and I'll ask him to bring Mr. Mime with him and a load of other psychic types that I know he has at his research lab. Combining their efforts they should be able to lift the water."

"Well, I've been sceptical of your plans before and you always surprised me." Misty conceded.

"Good, I'll get onto the professor," he said, reaching for his Pokédex and making use of it's satellite connectivity- a new feature of the latest models of the Pokédex. The device made a few buzzing noises, then the screen lit up and professor Oak appeared on screen.

"Ash, Misty! Good to see you two, how are things in Hoenn?"

"They're... interesting, professor, and that's putting it mildly," said Ash.

"Well that's a loaded response there Ash, is there a problem?"

"Well, sort of. We've made a discovery that's proving to be challenging to fully unravel. We've discovered a new type of Pokémon. At least, we think it's a Pokémon, we're not really sure anymore. If it is a Pokémon then it's a very ancient one."

"Ancient you say?" asked the Professor.

"Yeah, ancient and very powerful. Misty and I battled it today and it was able to hold off four of our Pokémon simultaneously. We beat it eventually but we were unable to capture it, even though we used an ultra ball. It was completely exhausted, we did everything we needed to do to capture it and then some, but the ultra ball we tried to use didn't even register it being there, like it wasn't a Pokémon. The thing is though it uses Pokémon attacks in battle. You really have to see this thing, there's a lot of weird things about this Pokémon, professor and we really need you to give your opinion, the only problem we have at the moment is that it's nocturnal and lives at the bottom of a lake, so it won't show itself until dusk," Ash explained at length.

"That certainly is a problem, but you have my interest in your discovery, I should imagine Gary will too, you know ancient Pokémon are his specialist field. Do you have any plan to expose this creature in the day time? It would make it easier to study in broad daylight."

"Yeah, I have an idea, when you leave Pallet Town, bring Mr. Mime and as many other psychic Pokémon with you as you can. I'm going to need to make use of their psychic abilities."

"This I can do Ash, though I'll have to run it by your mother first, but I'm sure she won't mind. Also can you explain to me why you decided to capture it? You know it's rather taboo to capture a unique Pokémon."

"We know professor and normally we would have left it alone, but this one is different from most other Pokémon, it's a carnivore and this one has a taste for humans and other Pokémon."

"Good gracious, are you sure?" asked the shocked professor.

"Yeah, it even tried to go for me this morning. We're staying in a nearby village at the moment that has an unpleasant history with it. A number of people fell victim to it, back when they didn't know it dwelt in the lake."

"Good heavens! That's... that's horrible. Alright Ash, I'll leave tomorrow morning. Er, where are you exactly?"

Ash sighed. "Somewhere between Lilycove city and Fortree city, the village is called Okham. Use the locator in my Pokédex to find me."

"OK Ash, if you two are in Hoenn it will take at least a day to get there; we can't travel on the back of a flying Pokémon like you can, not with all the equipment we may need to study it. I should think we'll get there by tomorrow night, probably quite late. I take it you'll be able to keep yourself occupied until then? Also is there a place for us to stay in the village?"

"We'll be fine. I'll ask around, there probably won't be a hotel here but we've made friends with one of the locals, we're staying at his place, maybe he can help."

"Good, I look forward to seeing you and this discovery of yours. Take care now!"

"Bye professor!" they both said, turning off the Pokédex.

Julius shortly appeared in the lounge with a fresh pot of tea.

"Made arrangements have you? Excellent, well hopefully your learned friends will be able to shed some light on all this," he chimed.

The three spent some time talking about the various adventures of Ash and Misty, going over memories great and small, happy and sad. Ash and Misty had never spent much time on this new journey reminiscing properly and doing so brought smiles and laughter to them both as they recalled their adventures and their mishaps. It was then that Ash told Misty for the first time that when they had found the 'Tower of Terror', a disused building occupied by a trio of mischievous ghost Pokémon, Ash's consciousness was removed from his body by the trio and it was in fact he who had lifted Misty up into the air whilst she and Brock were standing outside.

"That was you?" she yelled, whacking him on the shoulder. "All that time I was so worried about you and you were off playing games with those ghosts!"

"Ha! Yeah, couldn't help myself. When you become a poltergeist it's pretty easy to get carried away with yourself," he paused for a moment, not looking at Misty, who was looking a little moody. His smile faded a little as his thoughts drifted to other things that day. "I saw how worried you were, Misty. Even back then it was touching to see you cared."

The annoyance on Misty faded into a hint of a smile. "Cared? Wrong tense, Ketchum, I still do, you big ape."

Ash smiled in return. "I know."

"_Oh, to be young and have someone so close. Such a lovely pair they are,"_ thought Julius to himself looking at the two with a smile. A period of silence passed between them all, letting them delve deeper into their memories and history together. Ash and Misty realised how much history they had together, despite a number of years apart. They both unknowingly settled on the time they first met, back when Misty was fishing for new Pokémon and instead managed to hook Ash, clutching his beloved Pikachu... And how he managed to trash her bike.

"You know Ash, the more I think about it the more I realise that you owe nurse Joy in Viridian City a great deal of time and money, because it was she who fixed my bike, you never actually contributed anything towards it if I recall."

"Sure I did, I took you away from Viridian City for a year, giving nurse Joy plenty of time to fix it." he said satirically.

"You know what I mean," she said, whacking him on the shoulder again.

Ash looked puzzled for a moment. "Wait, were you just thinking about the time we first met?"

"Yeah, why?

"So was I. Weird, that."

"Great minds think alike... so I have no idea how you were thinking what I was thinking," Misty joked.

Ash's response was to leap on her and begin tickling her.

"Ah! No Ash! Don't do that!" she managed to squeal in between reflexive giggles. This went on for a couple of minutes before Ash decided to stop, letting a flushed Misty catch her breath.

"Ah, the playfulness of youth. To these old eyes, you are like a couple of puppies play fighting with each other. Such energy has not entered this house in a while!" remarked Julius.

"Do you mind if I ask why you live alone Julius?" asked Ash tentatively.

"Not at all, there is no shame to my reasons and my tale is not particularly unusual either; I had a wife once, loveliest woman I had ever met, called Lyndya. We were married for forty two wonderful years, had three children, one of them lives in Lilycove City, the other two live in Mauville City. Sadly my wife was taken from me four years ago due to an unexpected illness. This place has been rather empty ever since," he admitted. It was a sobering moment for Ash and Misty, they had never known real loss, not like this.

"We're sorry for your loss, Julius," said Misty.

"Thank you, but you don't have to be, I will see her again someday. In reality I actually consider myself lucky for so many reasons; For having met her in the first place, the three children she gave me and the time we spent together," he stopped and looked over at cabinet adjacent to them, on top of which stood a framed black and white photograph, which featured Julius, when he must have been in his thirties, along with a similarly aged woman with dark hair, who held a sleeping baby, wrapped in a white blanket in her arms and either side of the proud parents stood their other two young children. Ash and Misty looked over and studied the photograph as Julius continued.

"I have many wonderful memories too and for that I'm grateful. I also take some small comfort that my wait to see her again will be comparatively short; I think about Vinnie and Tony and all the other people whom the Nidhogg took and the decades of pain and loss their parents and other relatives had to endure before it was their time to be reunited. No need to be sorry for me, I've had it good in this life," he smiled. "Just make sure you spend the many years you have ahead of you making good memories, like I did... Only without the shadow of the Nidhogg hanging over you."

The two trainers smiled. "Don't worry Julius, we will, I'm sure," said Ash.

"Thanks for sharing all that with us," said Misty.

"You're quite welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, this old dog would like to get some sleep. The spare room is the second door on the left. Have a good night."

"Good night!" the two replied.

"Pika-pi!" said Pikachu.

They watched Julius leave.

"He's a sweet man," said Misty. "He's seen a lot of tragedy in his life as well. Hard to believe he's been through as much as he has and is still so level headed."

"Yeah. I guess when you reach a certain age you get pretty good at rationalising the hard times in life. People can learn a lot from guys like him."

Misty simply nodded. "If I disappeared tomorrow and you never saw me again would you ever be able to rationalise me?" she poked.

"I can't rationalise you now, let alone if you disappeared," he joked.

"Ha! So true Ash, so terribly true," she smirked. "Seriously though."

Ash flashed a smile. "Seriously though? That's something I hope I will never have to do, Misty."

She smiled gratefully. "Likewise, Ash."

"Can we talk about something else? This conversation is getting too morbid for my tastes, I like spending my time thinking everything and everyone is going to last forever," he asked.

"Ha! Well, I was thinking of making a lateral move to bed," she replied.

"Probably a good idea, let's check out the spare room."

They both got up and wandered down the hallway. Stepping into the room and turning on the light they were surprised and rather stumped by the realisation that there was only one bed in the room. It was a double bed, but there was still only one.

"Uh, right," said Ash, puzzled. "I'm going to go ahead and guess Julius is the second person in this village to assume we're a couple and have shared the same bed before."

"Probably," Misty sighed, turning to Ash and giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could. "Ash, I'm not entirely sure I'm completely comfortable sharing a bed... even a double bed... even with you."

Ash gave a look of resignation and put up both his hands. "I see where this is going, don't worry about us, we'll take the couch in the lounge, right Pikachu?" said Ash to his furry companion.

"Pikachu," came the reply, along with a shaking head. The stripy little yellow mouse leapt up onto the bed and proceeded to make himself comfortable under the covers and waved at Ash.

"Well, I guess Pikachu's decided who he's sleeping with tonight!" smiled Misty.

"Traitor," growled Ash.

"Anyway, thanks for not being awkward about this Ash."

"No problem, I guess. Night, Misty."

"Night, Ash."

"See you tomorrow Pikachu," said Ash, leaving.

"Pika!" came the reply.

All became silent as the two trainers settled into their respective resting places.

Misty lay in bed looking over at Pikachu, smiling.

"Do you think I should have let him stay in here Pikachu? I feel kind of bad for turfing him out," she said to the little rodent who merely shrugged his shoulders and twitched an ear. "I didn't actually know it would feel awkward for me to have him in here as well. I didn't know how I would feel about it. I just didn't want to chance letting him sleep in here and it feeling awkward for one or both of us, I guess."

"Pika," came the quiet response.

For a while Misty just lay there, thinking about what she had said. The more she thought about it the more she began to feel like she should have let Ash sleep in here. It's not like she was wanting for lack of space, the bed was sizeable... and felt a little empty, even with Pikachu with her.

"_I think we'll be here for another night, given how late Professor Oak and Gary will be arriving, I'll tell Ash he can stay in here then, no point telling him now though, knowing him, he'll probably already be asleep."_ she thought to herself, before her mind wandered to what they had spoken about earlier and she smiled at Pikachu.

"It was sweet what he said earlier, Pikachu, about hoping he'll never have to 'rationalise' me. That meant a lot. You know, your trainer has been making a habit of doing things that mean a lot to me. When I woke up that day back in Cerulean and found him there sitting by my bedside I just... I couldn't believe it. Only he would do that for me. Mind you, he'd probably do that for anyone."

"Pika-pi," squeaked Pikachu, shaking his head and pointing at Misty.

"Just for me, huh? Well it's nice to be special to someone like that," she smiled. "Did he ever think of me much over these intervening years Pikachu? I guess you probably won't know entirely, you're not a psychic Pokémon after all."

"Pikachu!" said Pikachu adamantly, nodding his head. He then got up out of the bed and scampered his way over to Misty's shorts. In one hand he held them up and with his other hand he pointed at Misty and then at one of her pockets. Misty cocked her head.

"Me... my pocket, something about my pocket?" she suggested.

"Pika," Pikachu shook his head, then pointed to Misty, then down to the lounge where Ash was sleeping and then at Misty's pocket.

"Ash? You meant Ash, right?" she asked, Pikachu nodded. "Me, Ash and my pocket?"

Pikachu shook his head, fortunately he had managed to acquire some patience over the years. Instead he pointed at Misty. "Me," she confirmed, then Pikachu put his hand in her pocket. "In the pocket." Pikachu gave her a thumbs up, then pointed down the hall. "Ash." she said, Pikachu nodded.

Misty thought for a moment, untangling the last mental discrepancies she had about what Pikachu was saying before putting it into a sentence that made sense, in a manner of speaking.

"I'm in Ash's pocket? Is that right Pikachu?"

"Pikachu!" was the jubilant reply. Now that the pantomime was over he leapt back into bed and made it clear he wanted to go to sleep.

"Not going to expand on that sentence then are you?" asked Misty, receiving no reply.

She sighed and snuggled back into the covers.

"I'm in Ash's pocket," she spoke quietly to herself, pondering Pikachu's cryptic answer before sleep took her.

The new day arrived, and since they had no real goals to aim for until Professor Oak and Gary arrived later that evening, Misty and Ash decided to have a lie in, under Julius' roof, who had no problem with accommodating his young guests, though he was surprised to see Ash sleeping on the couch in his lounge. Ash told him that he and Misty were not in fact a couple as he had incorrectly assumed. Julius apologised profusely for making things awkward, but Ash assured him that everything was fine.

Ash then managed to get onto the subject of how he and Misty came to be journeying together again, a subject they had not gone onto the previous night. Julius was stoical but listened intently. After Ash had finished regaling him, Julius slapped his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash, my lad, if all you've told me is true, then let me tell you something from the old and wise; Any man who does all that for someone they care about will get their just reward in the end, it's karma and it's surprising how often it works like that. I haven't known you kids for very long but I've watched how Misty is around you; she hangs onto your every word and she's more comfortable around you than any girl ever was around me when I was your age, that's for sure. In my opinion, she's more grateful to you than she knows how to express fully and she'll probably never leave your side until she finds a way. If you're lucky, she'll never leave even on the day she does. That's what happened with me and Lyndya, she's actually one of the reasons I don't hate the Nidhogg. If it wasn't for him, I doubt I ever would have met her, much less saved her from him.

Ash looked shocked. "She was attacked by the Nidhogg?"

"Yes. She was travelling through the forest, much like you two were and found the lake and she also decided to go for a swim. Fortunately for her it was morning and I was heading to the lake to do my morning scout of the lake's perimeter. She was swimming around quite happily when I arrived. I was staggered that someone had found the lake."

"Quick, get out of the water! I shouted at her. I thought she was going to become another Vinnie and Tony. Good thing she seemed to hear and understand the importance of what I was saying so she came in, she was a pretty fast swimmer too, all the better for her really, she reached the shores and stood up," Julius swallowed and seemed to drift off in his memories again.

"In that one moment time seemed to stand still. She was a stunning young woman, long brown hair, the greenest eyes you ever saw, lovely, high cheekbones, a beautiful peaches and cream complexion and a figure that made you tingle in all the right places," he gave Ash a wink, to which he laughed.

"She was about to step onto the grass when one of the Nidhogg's hands appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her by her trailing ankle and began pulling her screaming back in. There was no way I could contend with that thing's sheer strength, so in a moment of mental clarity I took out my penknife, which I always carried with me when I went out to that place, leapt after her and managed to find a crack between the rock and steel of it's skin and stabbed it. It didn't go all the way in but it was enough."

"The hand reflexively let go and that monster let out the worst noise I'd ever heard. It hadn't dragged her out far so we were able to get out and well away from the edge. It didn't try for either of us a second time. Since she was only in her swimwear her ankle hadn't been protected by anything from the Nidhogg's rocky skin and it had been grazed up pretty bad. I came with a backpack which carried some emergency supplies, so I bandaged her up. I tell you the toughest thing I did that day was bandage that ankle whilst keeping my eyes from wandering up the rest of her. I told her what was in that lake and she was so grateful to me for saving her life. She grew to love me for it and then later she married me. And the rest as they say is history." he concluded.

"That's... an incredible story Julius, thanks for telling me."

"No problem lad, no problem at all. Now, if you like, I'll make us some tea and you're free to have breakfast whenever you like," he said, walking off.

"Sounds good, thanks," said Ash, then thought. "_He's got such history with the Nidhogg, good and bad. Amazing how such a thing can play an integral part in shaping someone's life and that thing doesn't even know it. It's shaped mine a little too, I guess. It tried to kill me and forced Misty to save my life, it's making a habit of this. I wonder what Julius would really feel if we took it away from here."_

His musings were interrupted by Misty, who strolled into the room holding Pikachu. "Hi Ash, did you sleep well?" she asked, guiltily.

"A lifetime of camping out on grassy knolls tempers your body for sleeping on pretty much anything. This couch was a luxury compared to all that, so yeah, I slept fine." he said, finally making an effort to get out of his sleeping bag now that Misty was out of bed.

Misty was rather taken aback by Ash, who was now stepping over to his clothes on the adjacent sofa wearing only his black boxer shorts. She found her gaze drawn to him, watching the muscles on his back flex and stretch. He wasn't thickly muscled in the way a body builder was, but what he had was very well defined and as Misty's eyes wandered down the back of his torso she unknowingly started biting her lower lip, deep in thought.

"_What's wrong with you Misty? You've seen Ash in swimming shorts and they're not that different from what he's wearing now. Not quite as snug though on the... nice arse,"_ she thought before quickly shaking her head to remove the mental cobwebs and the burgeoning, improper thoughts creeping into her head, like a seedy mist. _"Snap out of it Misty, you'll be drooling if you're not careful."_

She finally looked away, blinking as Ash pulled up his trousers. As he did so, Misty remembered what Pikachu was telling her last night. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself. She was going to ask Ash what Pikachu meant, but it was unlikely he would be able to figure out the riddle. That was something she was good at, as their first visit to Cinnabar Island proved when they encountered the gym leader Blaine, who was very fond of his riddles. She decided to figure it out for herself but not right now.

"Since we have time to kill Ash, I thought we could explore the town and then maybe give our Pokémon a chance to stretch their legs, especially our psychic ones, if we're going to be using them later."

"Sounds good to me," said Ash, putting on his jacket. "Let's get some breakfast first, then head off."

"Alright."

"Pikachu!" chipped in Pikachu.

"Enjoy sleeping in Misty's bed Pikachu?" asked Ash rhetorically.

"Pikachu and I had an amusing night last night that descended into a small game of charades, didn't we Pikachu?" said Misty, giggling.

"Pika-Pi!" said Pikachu, giving her a pleased 'thumbs up'.

Breakfast was a simple 'cereal-and-toast' affair, which was satisfying all round. Whilst they ate, they asked Julius if he knew of anyone who would be willing to accommodate the incoming professor(s) Oak. He said he would ask around, he knew everyone in the village, so it probably wouldn't take long to find somewhere. They thanked him for his help and told him they were going to wander about town and do some training later, then bade him farewell.

The three friends enjoyed their walk about the quaint little village, the architecture of all the buildings felt very old school, it was like stepping back in time to a bygone age and the exteriors juxtaposed wonderfully with the more modern interiors of the shops that they visited. Word had also seemed to spread about the 'two trainers here to rid the lake of the unspeakable menace' and the friendly manner of the locals reflected this new reputation. During their strolls, Misty kept thinking about what Pikachu meant when he said she was in Ash's pocket. More to the point, how was that an answer to her question of whether Ash thought about her much during their time apart.

"_Maybe Pikachu wasn't using an analogy of how much I owe Ash. If he did mean I owed Ash he wouldn't be entirely accurate anyway; I saved his life yesterday. How can I be in his pocket?"_ the thoughts continued to dog her for sometime, still not coming up with an answer.

As the day wore on they found themselves getting involved in Pokémon battles with some of the locals in the town square, who marvelled at the skill, cunning and raw power of the two trainers, who didn't lose a single one of their challenges. Someone even called for Ash and Misty to battle each other, which they politely declined to do.

"Misty and I have only ever fought each other in official competitions and the Cerulean City gym, her gym, and those are the only times and places I will ever allow myself to battle her."

His words incited a few adoring 'awwws' from the audience, they thought it was cute as did Misty, and Ash went red in the face and scuffed the ground with his feet. The audience then wished them luck against the Nidhogg and dispersed when it was clear there were no more challengers.

They decided to head back to Julius' house and prepare for their incoming guests.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Reunion and Stand-off

As evening approached a Jeep arrived in town bearing four passengers, two of whom were the Professor(s) Oak. Gary opened his Pokédex and contacted Ash to meet them in the town square and guide them to Julius' house. Both Ash and Misty arrived to greet the two and their unknown companions.

"Hey Professor! Well, I should say 'professors', really shouldn't I?" he said looking at Gary.

"Ha! Don't worry about it Ashy-boy, I know I'll always be 'Gary' to you," smiled his old friend, shaking Ash's hand.

"Good to see you again, Ash, Misty, how have you both been?"

"Hi professor Oak, we're just fine thanks, we've had a great day of checking out this village and training our Pokémon!" said a chipper Misty.

"Good to see you again Misty, I hope this Pokémon you found is as interesting as you guys made it sound, we didn't spare the horses to get here. After I heard my grandpa use the word 'ancient' and 'Pokémon' in the same sentence I insisted we leave extra early, hence why we're here now and not later," explained Gary.

"Good to see you too Gary, how's your Aerodactyle?" she asked.

"He's doing good. His predatory instincts are still present so we have to be a little cautious around him, particularly during feeding time. He gets quite docile on a full stomach though, that's when we interact with him most," he stated.

"By the way Ash," said Professor Oak. "We brought along Mr. Mime and a number of other psychic Pokémon as requested, Gary also has his Alakazam. We also have with us a little surprise for you."

"Oh, Ash!" chimed a feather light, female voice from one of the figures in the car; it was unmistakable to Ash.

"Mum?" called out Ash.

The figure finally leapt out of the car and walked swiftly towards them.

"Sweety!" she cooed.

"Mum!" Ash cried, leaping into his mother's outstretched arms hugging her tightly. "What are you doing here?"

"When Professor Oak asked if he could borrow Mr. Mime, saying he wanted to bring him to you, I couldn't miss an opportunity like this to see my son after all these months of only having photographs to remind me of you!" replied Delia.

Misty looked on at the pair. For all the time they spent apart, they were as close as ever. Delia loved her son more than anything in the world and Ash wouldn't think twice of taking on the world for his mother if he ever had to. She was always proud of the young man her son had become, it was what made all his time away from her tolerable. Then there were times like this, where they were reunited and all the time lost became worthwhile.

They broke up the hug and she gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek. "It's wonderful to see you again, dear."

"You too mum. Thanks for coming, you'll get to see mine and Misty's little discovery too!"

Remembering Misty, Delia looked over to see Ash's companion and gasped. It had been many years since Delia and Misty had met in person.

"Misty, is that you? My goodness it's been so long, look at you!"

"Please don't start, mum," Ash muttered quietly, Delia chose to ignore him, walking over to give Misty a hug.

"Misty, what a beautiful young woman you've become!" she exclaimed, gliding her fingers through Misty's wavy hair and gently touching her lower jaw, as if she were examining her, but in a friendly manner. "It's absolutely lovely to see you again, dear, you have absolutely blossomed since I last saw you."

"Hehe, thank you Mrs Ketchum. You still look as young as I ever remember you being," said a rosy cheeked Misty.

"Oh please, enough of the 'Mrs Ketchum' thing, call me Delia," she commanded waving a dismissive hand. "And thank you," the older woman winked.

"Sure thing, uh, Delia," Misty smiled.

"Now," said Delia, turning to her embarrassed son. "What is the plan of action, Ash?"

"Well, uh, since you guys got here so early, if you don't need to unpack much I guess we can head straight to the lake and show you this Pokémon, if you guys are up for it of course. It's getting close to dusk and that's when this thing starts to go active, so it might not be so disgruntled than if we were to do this during the day."

"We won't need any equipment for simple observations, but you'd better give us the full run-down of what you know about this Pokémon as we go," said Gary.

"Sure, I'll just guide you to Julius' house where we can park the Jeep. He's got something that we will need to use when we expose this thing. He's called the Pokémon the 'Nidhogg' and it's got a nasty psychic attack that induces unparalleled fear in any who see it. Fortunately he has a herbal drug that shields us and Pokémon from the effects of the attack, we'll need to take it before we do this. I should imagine Julius will want to come with us anyway," said Ash.

The group were led to Julius' house where Ash introduced them all. Julius was particularly impressed by Delia.

"Julius, this is my mother, Delia."

"Ah, it is my pleasure! You remind me very much of a charming young lady I met when I was but a young man, not much older than your lad here," he said kissing Delia on the back of the hand, making Delia blush and look away like an embarrassed school girl.

"I must thank you Ash, in the space of two days you've brought not one but two fine young fillies into my home," said Julius winking.

"Oh, stop it!" said Delia, clearly charmed by the old rogue. "I'm afraid I'm not as young as I used to be anymore! Age will catch me soon, I'm sure." she sighed.

"Nonsense! To these old eyes, you could pass for Misty's sister. You'll age like a fine wine, you mark my words, unlike this old duffer who has aged more like a fine cheese."

They all laughed at his joke. Ash and Misty were surprised, they had no idea Julius was such a slick little charmer. Julius was equally pleased to see Gary and Professor Oak. It dawned on them that he probably didn't get that many visitors anymore, not with his children in far away cities and it felt good to give him a chance to entertain. However they also needed to press onto dealing with the fear blocker drug, which they coaxed him into retrieving and making preparations to leave for the lake.

As they moved through the forest, Ash, Misty and Julius explained to the newcomers what they knew of the Nidhogg and some of it's terrible history and their battle with it. Much to their shock Ash and Misty even told how it tried to make a meal out of Ash and how Misty's intervention saved him. Delia was practically in awe of Misty after hearing that and she made a mental note to thank her later, but first she felt she had to scold Ash for ignoring the signs around the lake.

"You foolish young man Ash! Signs aren't placed around for fun you know, they're there for a reason and ignoring it nearly cost you your life, and possibly Misty's too and then I would never have ever seen you again and not even known what happened to you!" she hissed, taking everyone by surprise.

"I... I'm sorry mum. I guess I got caught up in the scene and stopped thinking of what might happen." he stammered, clearly hurt by his mother's sudden vitriol. Delia said nothing be let out a long sigh and put an arm around Ash waist and lent her head on his shoulder as they move. Ash returned the gesture, putting his arm over Delia's shoulders. Delia was a very strong willed woman when she wanted or needed to be, but she was devoted to Ash and had always felt the need to protect him from himself sometimes, like now. He knew she'd forgive him for it eventually though. Misty thought this was a touching display of mother/son affection, one that she never really saw them express that often in the past, it was soothing somehow.

They finally reached the lake where Julius distributed the fear blocker to everyone and the Pokémon and Ash explained what he wanted all the psychic Pokémon to do to do.

"Alright, are we ready guys?" Ash asked and they all nodded in response. "Alright, let's do this," he said, walking out onto the grassy rim of the lake.

"Everyone, use psychic to raise the lake water and keep it suspended well above." he commanded.

The eyes of all the Pokémon glowed blue and everyone watched in amazement as the water swirled and sloshed and began to rise and change shape into a spherical mass, leaving behind the damp muddy surface.

As expected an indignant roar sounded out about them and as the water rose higher the two Professors and Delia witnessed the form of the Nidhogg for the first time and as promised it did not disappoint. They stared at it in disbelief, it was truly monstrous to them. The confused creature looked up at the swirling sphere of water suspended above it, and then at the group assembled on the lake side. It seemed to recognise Ash, Misty and Julius and wailed at them all.

"It's OK Nidhogg, we're not here to hurt you, we promise!" cried out Misty, waving her arms.

They weren't sure if the Nidhogg understood her, but it did not attack. Instead it steadily placed it's hands on the edge of the grass, and moved it's head carefully closer to them, watching them intently as it moved. It came so close, right up to the edge where it's hands were, that everyone took a large step back, making sure they were well away from it's grasp. It growled a deep echoing growl, but continued to refrain from attacking.

Looking into the cold eyes they had no idea they were looking upon a being to which time no longer had any meaning. The Nidhogg was one one of the oldest living creatures on Earth, having spent many millennia in the comfort of his lake. He had not always been a sole consumer of flesh, there was a time, that he had long since forgotten, when he was able to move freely to and from the lake. He once had legs, a body and a tail, making him resemble a lizard made from smooth rock and shiny metal. He ate almost anything; his size dictated that he had to; Earth, rocks, trees, metal, anything, he had no limits. In those happier days he was a Pokémon and as a Pokémon he was intelligent and understood the difference between right and wrong. There were others like him too, but not many; their size meant they had no natural predators but the earth's ecology could not support great numbers and his kind could live for centuries too, so there was no need for there to be a huge number of them. The only thing a Nidhogg ever had to fear was another Nidhogg in territorial disputes.

Then, millions of years ago, when humans were still nothing more than small adaptable and hardy little mammals, scurrying about on four legs, nature decided it was time to undergo one of it's great mass extinctions. In this case an outbreak of a new disease that spread rapidly across the world and wiped out nearly eighty percent of all life. Sensing the cataclysm before it actually reached it, the Nidhogg sought refuge in its lake and buried itself into the muddy bottom, protecting it from the airborne plague, in the hope it would outlast it. Under the surface he placed himself into a state of suspended animation, where he shut down all non-essential body functions in order to conserve energy. He remained inactive like this for nearly two centuries as life around him perished.

As the years passed on and the microbial killer died out from lack of carriers, many of the greatest creations the earth had ever seen lay dead, rotten or returned to the soil, including the once mighty race of Nidhoggs; the largest organism defeated by the smallest. All that is except the lake dweller.

The earth was not the only thing time had changed though; The Nidhogg, who had stayed asleep for far longer than he should have, at the cost of his mental capacity, emerged from the lake as the last of his kind and found he was unable to go anywhere. At some point during his sleep, he did not know when, he had evolved, which was a strange enough event as it was because no Nidhogg had ever evolved before. But the manner of his evolution was nothing short of miraculous.

His body and legs had disappeared, as if they had dissipated into the ground around him and it felt to him as if that was the case, he felt spread out and stretched as far as the lake's edge in all directions, like a tree's roots that spread out and down as they grow.

He had literally evolves to become a part of the lake and indeed the earth itself, bringing him as close to immortality as any creature could ever aspire to and as long as the earth continued to exist, so would he.

The transformation was not however without negative consequences; he could no longer go anywhere from the lake, he was totally immobile and unable to forage for food. He would not starve however- the rest of his body that had spread out across the lake was acting like the roots of a tree, drawing nutrients in to keep him alive, but he still felt hunger, constantly and this problem was only compounded when he first tried to take a bit out of the soil of the lake and found that it hurt him to do so.

His immobility and constant hunger forced him to become an ambush predator, taking whatever creatures he could reach, that ventured too close to the water. It was never enough though, prey did not come frequently enough. As the millennia passed the lack of protein in his diet took it's toll on his already fragile mental state and his higher brain functions began to regress and now, here in front of this human audience he only had the faintest flicker of higher intelligence and all his old memories had passed through him like water through a sieve. He had become an animal, a tragic shell of his former glory, a fate made worse that no one would ever know his history, least of all the diminutive humans who had once again disturbed him.

The ember of it's intelligence recognised Ash and Misty and it knew they were too dangerous to attack, yet. But he was a little curious as to why they had not attacked him like they had before, then the black haired one spoke.

"We're sorry for disturbing you Nidhogg. I brought a couple of friends with me to see you, two of them are Pokémon researchers and they're very interested in meeting you. We're desperate to figure out what you are."

The Nidhogg cocked it's head slightly and moved away, he did not know what a researcher was, and he definitely didn't trust them, but the humans mannerisms were not threatening, so he did not attack. Professor Oak and Gary moved in a little closer to the edge of the lake and through the light of dusk they saw where the neck led.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing Gary?" asked Oak

"I sure am grandpa, amazing. It's neck seems to transition perfectly into the lake bottom. It's arms are doing the same thing too."

"I've got to get a closer look at it Gary, stay here," said Oak, stepping onto the slippery lake surface, which was surprisingly solid, but not easy to walk on.

"Wait! Grandpa are you insane? That thing could take you in one bite!" yelled Gary.

"If this Pokémon was actively hostile against us it would have tried to attack us the minute we disturbed it. I don't think it's going to do anything now," said the professor adamantly.

"We're not taking any chances, Professor," called out Ash. "Charizard, out you come."

"You too, Milotic!" said Misty.

"Scizor, join us!" commanded Gary.

The Nidhogg did not like what he was seeing and made a threatening roar and flexed it's hands.

Professor Oak turned to the threatened monster. "It's OK, we're not going to hurt you, my friends are just worried for me. I think you understand me don't you? I want to get a closer look at you and where you emerge from the lake bottom, will you let me do that?" he called out.

The monster made no sound, he didn't understand what the professor wanted to do, but he did understand that he was not in any immediate danger, not from this particular human at least. His response was to interlock the fingers of it's two hands and rest his elbows on the ground, creating an arch shape with it's arms. He drew his head back, looking like it was observing the professor, but Ash knew it was also watching the rest of them.

"I think it's allowing me. Don't worry I'll be careful." called the professor.

"Scizor, you're the fastest moving object here, if that thing goes for grandpa, you get in there and get him out, under stood?" asked Gary nervously.

"Scizor!" replied Scizor, crossing his arms.

Watching Professor Oak move carefully across the lake towards the centre was nail-biting for the observers. They watched the Nidhogg's every move, every twitch for signs of an attack. Professor Oak was rapidly switching between looking at the ground he was on and the beast he was approaching, which was looking at him and moving his head almost quizzically.

"It's OK," he said, as much to himself as the Nidhogg. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Back on the shore, Delia, her voice shaky whispered to Ash. "I don't think I've ever been so nervous before in my life."

"Trust me mum, underneath this calm exterior, my heart rate is very high right now, I may have taken that fear blocker but I think this feeling is different from fear," Ash muttered. He was right, it was anticipation, the sense of readiness before a battle.

After what seemed like an age of treading over muddy, but also rather rocky ground, professor Oak reached the Nidhogg's protruding neck and looked at it closely, then used his hand to rub away some of the mud.

For over quarter of an hour the professor worked studiously, looking ever so closely at what he was seeing. He was also impressed that the psychic Pokémon were able to hold up the water for as long as they had, though he did feel he shouldn't push his luck. What he found though was very interesting and well worth the wait and danger.

"Wait until I relay this to the others, this will astound them." he said to himself. He then looked to his right and jumped a little, seeing the Nidhogg's face only half a dozen meters from him, watching him intently, it's head suspended just above the lake's surface by it's gargantuan neck. At this distance he was genuinely helpless; if it went for him no one could stop it. The creature looked and felt intensely intimidating.

"You are..." he said a little sheepishly, trying to think of the right words. "Quite a marvel, if what I think you have become is correct. You've been here for a very, very long time haven't you?" he asked, though he was not expecting an answer.

Back on the shore, they watched as the professor move around the neck, walked about and occasionally stooped to examine something, then get back up. Eventually the professor stopped his investigations and steadily made his way back to the group.

"What happened grandpa?"

"Gary, my boy, we stand before something the likes of which will probably never be seen again in aeons to come." He turned back to the Nidhogg in admiration. "I have no proof yet, but I suspect this creature is at least partly a Pokémon whilst the other half of it is... unclassifiable. This lake has been it's home for a very long time though, probably for a longer time than there have been humans on this planet."

"How is that possible, grandpa, some Pokémon have great longevity but not hundreds of thousands of years even my Aerodactyle isn't actually old, just it's species is."

"Indeed Gary, but the part of the Nidhogg that isn't a Pokémon is what is giving it this long life. I noticed that as I was testing and probing the ground around it, the Nidhogg was reacting much in the same way as a person reacts if someone pokes them- they feel it and I think the Nidhogg felt the investigation as well as me walking across the lake. I believe that the lake bottom is in fact it's body."

Professor Oak was clearly amazed, everyone else was utterly astonished and for the first time, all of them looked upon the Nidhogg with fascination and wonder, rather than fear, anger or hate. In their mind's eyes the creature was transformed from horrific savage to something all the more profound, like he was a demi-god. All except Delia that is. As the encounter had gone on, her expression had slowly changed, hardened. She was not looking at this creature in the same way the others were, something about it was bothering her.

Ash broke the silence. "I think it's time to lower the water and leave the Nidhogg alone, lower the water, gently," he commanded the psychic Pokémon.

The great sphere of water lowered over the Nidhogg, who let itself become consumed in the water. As the water gracefully spread out to cover the lake once again the Nidhogg rose briefly above it's surface and gave the mightiest bellow, before submerging itself.

They returned the Pokémon to the balls and made their way back home.

"You know, Professor," said Julius. "I think I'm able to look at the Nidhogg in a new light after all this. Understanding it now may help the village think of it differently. It's shadow might finally be lifted, without even needing to remove it. I thank you." he said softly.

"You're welcome. I'm certainly grateful to have had this opportunity, I certainly look forward to studying it further, assuming it's possible to do that."

"As am I grandpa," said Gary. "We'll certainly have a lot to talk about in research journals. Don't know how we're going to study it though."

"We'll find a way, Gary, I assure you," the elder Oak reassured him.

Gary looked pleased, finding a way to study a difficult Pokémon was just another challenge to him. "I guess you're right Grandpa."

They reached Julius' home and sat in the lounge to have a relaxing chat. Julius informed them that a neighbour had space for two guests, but he hadn't realised there would be three people coming over.

"That's alright," said Gary. "I'll sleep on Julius' couch, it's comfortable. Delia can have my bed at the neighbour's house."

"Uh, right, uh Misty?" said Ash, who realised what Gary's rearrangement meant for them both.

"It's alright Ash, we've shared rooms before," she said, tactfully leaving out the fact that they would be sharing a bed.

"Uh, cool, OK, well, I guess that settles that one," he said slightly awkwardly, which drew an inquisitive look from Gary.

"Excellent," piped up Julius. "I'll go and make us some tea and dinner," said Julius.

"Oh no you don't Julius, you've done enough for us and these two as it is, cooking is my territory." said Delia, firmly and getting up.

"Never argue with a good woman!" laughed Julius, setting himself back down.

"Can you come with me, Misty?" asked Delia, sweetly.

"Uh, sure, Delia," stammered Misty, rather surprised, but obediently following.

Ash looked puzzled. "What was that about?" he said quietly.

"Girl talk probably, best stay out of their way for the time being," said Gary.

"Why do I feel like I should be worried?" said Ash, sitting back next to him.

As they were talking Misty slowly, almost carefully, walked into the kitchen and saw Delia leaning back on one of the kitchen counters, looking a little serious, which was worrying. It was however fleeting as Delia broke out into a loving smile and threw her arms around Misty, much to her shock.

"Uh, I like hugs Delia, don't get me wrong, but what is this for?"

Delia didn't release her, just hugged her more tightly.

"I never thanked you properly, Misty. You saved Ash's life yesterday. Seeing that monster back there... It made it hit home just how close I came to losing my boy, almost eaten by that... thing. I don't care how significant it is to science, it nearly killed my Ash," she clasped her hand over her mouth to stifle a grieved gasp. "I wouldn't have even been able to say goodbye to him if it had."

Understanding her now, Misty returned the hug. "You're not the only one thankful. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him either. He's always been important to me, but lately... he's just been that much more significant in my life, you know?"

They parted and Delia wiped her glazed eyes. "Yes, yes, you two have always watched each other's backs when travelling together and I've been told about what happened to your gym. That was a truly wretched thing to happen to you but I wasn't surprised to be told Ash was already there helping. He's never been very good at putting his feeling for those around him into words, so he lets them know through his actions." She paused in thought.

"You know I can't remember the last time I heard the words 'I love you, mum' come from him? But every time I see him kiss that pendant I gave him before every battle in a tournament, I know that's what he's saying. His helping you with your gym? That's his way of showing how greatly he cares about you."

Misty smiled and put her closed hand over her mouth. She was immensely touched by Delia's words, it meant a lot to hear it from her.

"Promise me you'll always protect my boy. When you two are together I mean. I know I can't expect you to travel together forever."

"Of course I promise, Delia."

"Thank you, again. Now, let's get some tea on the go, they'll be wondering what's going on before long."

Delia filled up the kettle and flicked it on. Whilst it boiled she started going through Julius cupboards, establishing where everything was before moving forward with making dinner. Whilst she was doing this, Misty was thinking, which Delia shortly noticed.

"Are you OK, Misty? You seem preoccupied."

"Yeah, I was just thinking. I was speaking to Pikachu whilst I was in bed, Ash took the sofa for me. I asked Pikachu if Ash thought about me much during our time apart and he got out of bed, picked up my shorts, pointed at me, then the pocket of the shorts then down the hall to the lounge. I eventually figured out that Pikachu was saying I was in Ash's pocket. But that didn't really answer my question. Do you know what he meant?"

Delia, gave a knowing smile, before turning back to the kettle that had just switched off and pouring out six cups of tea.

"That loveable little fellow is very clever, you know. Sometimes cleverer than people, I find. He did answer your question and I know exactly what he's talking about, but I'm not going to tell you exactly what he meant. When you figure it out on your own it'll be more significant to you, but I will say this; If you get a chance, and bear in mind I'm not condoning this sort of behaviour, have a look through Ash's trouser pockets, you'll understand what Pikachu meant when you do," she said, cryptically.

"Um, OK, I guess."

In less than an hour Delia had fixed up one of her usual array of terrific stomach fillers, using a wide variety of ingredients she had found in Julius' kitchen. He was very grateful for the magnificent buffet of treats, all made with the care and skill that only the Ketchum Matriarch was capable of producing. It was a sumptuous meal and everyone told her so, which pleased her to no end.

They relaxed the meal away with stories from home and tales of Ash and Misty's new travels. Ash was delighted to hear Gary talk at length about his research into ancient Pokémon, the young researcher was clearly passionate about his field, which put a smile on Ash's face.

Whilst they were talking, Julius decided there and then that he was going to get the village organised so that they would actually feed the Nidhogg. How he was going to go about that, he wasn't sure, but he was certain that instead of fearing the Nidhogg, maybe it was time that the village embrace their immortal neighbour. A bizarre notion, especially to Delia, who didn't seem to like the idea, to the surprise of all except Misty.

They enjoyed each other's company whilst they had it, Misty and Ash told them they were leaving tomorrow to continue on their journey and the others were going to return to Kanto. Just before he decided to go to bed, Julius told them all he'd never had such fine guests in a long time and he hoped it would not be so long to happen again. They all thanked him for his hospitality and Professor Oak and Delia decided they had better go to the neighbours house before it was too late, leaving Ash, Misty and Gary.

"Well guys I don't want to throw you out of a lounge the doesn't even belong to me but I'm feeling tired myself," confessed Gary.

"No problem, Gary, we ought to be hitting the sack ourselves, we've got a lot of ground to cover before Lilycove," said Ash, getting up with Misty and Pikachu. "Night, Gary," they both said.

"Night," he replied, watching them leave and softly shaking his head. "You lucky dog, Ash," he said to himself.

Misty insisted she be allowed to change into her nightwear, whilst Ash had to make use of the bathroom to change into the shorts he usually slept in. When she called Ash to let him know he could come in. She was wearing a white chemise that came daringly high up her legs, drawing Ash's gaze up her creamy thighs, whether she wanted the attention or not.

"Put your tongue away, Ketchum," she joked, snapping him to attention.

"Right, yeah. Don't think I've ever seen you wear anything like that before." he murmured.

Misty giggled. "I couldn't help myself when I saw it way back, I've had this thing for a couple of years and I was a little shorter when I first bought it. It's silk and it still feels great so I decided I wasn't going to let being a couple of inches taller stop me from wearing it," pausing for a moment she put her hands on her hips and struck a pose, like she was modelling. "And yes, my legs do look damn good in it!" she said, matter-of-factly.

Ash smirked and shook his head, before taking his t-shirt off and settling into the covers, quickly followed by Misty and Pikachu, who decided to give them a little space and nestled further down the bed on top of the covers.

"Oh, one thing Ash."

"What's that?"

"Don't take my side of the covers."

The young trainer laughed. "I've said it before Misty and I'll say it again. I missed our banter when we were apart."

"So did I. Good night Ash"

"Good night Misty."

"Pika-pi!" squeaked Pikachu.

"Good night Pikachu," they both said.

While silence descended in the room and Ash and Pikachu allowed themselves to fall asleep, Misty was purposely trying to keep herself awake. She was going to wait until she felt the other two were fast asleep, before doing as Delia had said and check out what Ash kept in his pocket. As she thought, she had a suspicion she knew what it was and was hoping so much that she was right. It would mean so much to her if she was, but she would keep her cool until she knew for sure.

She waited an hour, listening to the rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of Ash and Pikachu. She realised how much more frequently a Pikachu breathed compared to a human, probably because they had a much higher heart rate than a human; Misty knew that the average human had a resting heart rate of around seventy beats per minute, a Pikachu's soared above that at around two hundred beats per minute, whereas a Pokémon the size of her Gyarados had a resting heart rate of around thirty five beats per minute and they, along with many other marine Pokémon were consciously able to slow their heart rate further, in order to conserve energy after long periods of no food.

It was after an hour or so of thinking random thoughts like this to keep herself awake that she got out of bed, taking care not to wake the other two, and crept round the bed towards Ash's discarded trousers. Both Pikachu and Ash were lying facing her direction and she knew all it would take would be for one of them to open their eyes and her odd activity would be totally exposed. She bent down and located the pockets, she felt there was something definitely not right about rifling through Ash's clothes, but she was desperate to know what was in them and finally solve Pikachu's riddle. All the while she searched, a pair of eyes that glinted in the moonlight carefully watched her, ready to close if she showed signs of turning around. The rear pockets were empty and the left pocket contained his Pokédex, nothing worth noting there. Putting her hand in the right pocket, she came across an odd object.

"_This must be it,"_ she thought. Pulling it out she suddenly cupped her hand over her mouth to stop her gasping. The room was only lit by moonlight coming through the window, but even in the low light, she could tell what it was; she'd always be able to recognise herself after all. A couple of happy tears worked their way down her cheeks as she stared at the 'Misty's special lure' that she had given Ash when they went their separate ways all those years ago.

"_I really was in your pocket the whole time, Ash, you always had me close by for six years, never wanting to forget about me,"_ she thought, wiping away the tears and replacing the lure before getting up. As she did so, the observing eyes closed, knowing she had found the memento. For a moment she looked at Ash's dormant form with such affection, she couldn't put into words what she was feeling at that moment, only that she liked it. She wanted to hold him so much, but she didn't want to wake him and she certainly didn't want to tell him she'd gone through his pockets without permission, except Delia's permission, but that didn't really count. She thought of a compromise and wandered back to her side of the bed and carefully rolled and sidled her way behind Ash until she was practically touching him from feet to head. She breathed slowly and deeply through her nose, her face was close enough to the back of his head that she picked up the scent of his hair. It wasn't unpleasant or fragrant, it was just the smell of hair and something about it made her mind tingle.

Spurned on by this odd sensation she put her arm gently around him and slipped her hand into his free hand. Unable to help herself she held onto it a little more, caressing his palm and thumb. She wasn't sure if he consciously did it or if it was a reflex, but she did notice Ash's hand twitch and close warmly on hers. He made no other move or response, so she assumed it was a reflex, but she was still glad of it and quickly fell into a deep and content sleep looking forward to the continuation of their journey together and unable to see the half smile on Ash's face.

The following morning they all bade farewell to each other and thanked Julius for his hospitality. He was happy to simply have had the company and hoped to see them all again soon and whilst it would probably be a while until he sees Ash and Misty again, he was going to have the company of Gary and occasionally Professor Oak, relatively soon and for the long term, whilst there were still things to learn about the Nidhogg.

There was an emotional farewell between Ash and his mother, though most of the emotion was being displayed by Delia, who also gave Misty a loving, almost motherly hug goodbye. As the Jeep carrying the guests drove off out of town, Ash and Misty gave a fond thank you and goodbye to Julius, before setting off on the next stage of their journey to Lilycove City, then swiftly onto their next gym battle at Mossdeep City with the psychic specialist twins, Tate and Liza.


End file.
